Already silently committed, Miami Central star Rueben Bain moves up announcement date
It all came to him in a dream earlier this month and now Rueben Bain is ready to announce his college commitment.
The elite defensive lineman reached a final decision Sunday, he said, and now he’s ready to announce an oral commitment either Tuesday or Wednesday.
Behind the scenes, everything was done Sunday, he said.
“I felt like it was just time,” Bain said Monday before a practice in Miami. “I had a dream about it. I thought about it for a couple weeks and I just decided to pull the trigger.”
In his dream, Bain was suiting up for his future team and he took it as an initial sign about what he might decide. Now, he’ll announce the team — likely either the Miami Hurricanes or Florida State Seminoles — this week.
The Louisville Cardinals, Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn Tigers were all legitimate contenders at various points, but recent coaching chances at Louisville and Auburn left Alabama as the only out-of-state contender going into the final days of his recruitment.
Bain took his official visit to Florida State over the weekend, then got back home from Tallahassee on Sunday, sat down with his parents and talked about his decision. By the end of the day, his future coaches knew about his plan, he said.
“I’ve already committed,” he said, “and did everything behind the scenes.”
He does still plan to take his official visit to Miami this weekend, no matter what he announces, he added.
“They told me they’re just going to do it to the end,” Bain said, “so it doesn’t matter.”
Initially, Bain’s plan was to announce his decision Friday, during the Class 2M championship. Miami Central will face Plantation American Heritage at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale and the 6-foot-2, 250-pound senior was trying to come up with a creative way to make the announcement in the middle of the game.
He also briefly considered making the announcement at the Under Armour All-America Game next month before deciding the best course of action for all involved parties was to announce ahead of the 2M title game, with about week to go until the early signing period begins Dec. 21.
“I decided that it was probably better for me and the actual school to push the commitment up, so that’s what we decided to do,” he said, “trying to get me to recruit some other guys, help some guys land home.”
As the No. 73 overall recruit in the 247Sports composite rankings for the Class of 2023, Bain has long been perhaps the Hurricanes’ top local target for the 2023 recruiting cycle and the sense around Central, at least as of last week, was Miami was still the favorite to land the four-star defensive lineman.
The Seminoles were trying to make up ground, with the Cardinals, Crimson Tide and Tigers all at various points in the last year the real toughest challenger to the Hurricanes.
“I got a chance to talk to some coaches and rekindle some relationships that I had up there,” Bain said, “see some guys on the staff, some guys on the roster that I know.”
Miami, however, has a ton of structural advantages in this recruitment.
Reginald Bain, the lineman’s older brother, is a graduate assistant. Roland Smith, who coached Bain for three years with the Rockets, is now the director of high school relations. The Hurricanes, even without those two, always recruit Central well and has pulled a blue-chip prospect from the local high school in back-to-back recruiting classes.
Bain, with 28 sacks this season, is well positioned to follow in the footsteps of offensive lineman Laurance Seymore and linebacker Wesley Bissainthe, and start as a freshman for his hometown team, if he picks Miami.
In a little more than a week, everything will be done for Bain. He might hoist the Nat Moore Trophy on Tuesday, he might win a fourth ring Friday and his future will be locked in next week.
Right now, one of the biggest weeks of his life is just getting started.
“It’s been hectic,” he said, “a very eventful two weeks.”
