With Rueben Bain Jr. sidelined, Hurricanes’ defensive line depth becoming key early in season
The No. 19 Miami Hurricanes’ defense received a significant blow on Saturday when star defensive lineman Rueben Bain Jr. left their season-opening road win over the Florida Gators on the opening drive with what coach Mario Cristobal described as a soft tissue injury.
Cristobal on Monday reaffirmed that Bain, the reigning ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year, will be out for “a couple of weeks” — which, at the minimum, would mean he’s out for UM’s home games against Florida A&M on Saturday and Ball State on Sept. 14 — and that he’ll know more about Bain’s status “as the tests go on.”
“I don’t know if I can honestly say that I’ll be transparent about it completely,” Cristobal said about the exact timeline for Bain’s return, “but I’ll do my best.”
One thing the Cristobal and the Hurricanes can say is that Miami’s defensive line group stepped up against the Gators on Saturday in Bain’s absence. The group, which saw its depth replenished mightily through transfer portal additions and players returning from injury, dominated at the line of scrimmage and the results showed.
The Hurricanes recorded eight tackles for loss and three sacks on Saturday. They held Florida to 138 rushing yards on 28 carries, with 71 of those yards coming on one play — Montrell Johnson’s touchdown run in the first half that defensive coordinator Lance Guidry said was because of a botched linebacker blitz. Remove that play, and Florida had 67 rushing yards on 27 carries — an average of 2.48 yards per rush.
“I mean, we hate to have a guy like that out,” defensive end Tyler Baron, who transferred to UM from Tennessee, said postgame Saturday about Bain. “It’ll be for a short time, but we’ve just gotta keep rolling with the punches. Next-man-up type of mentality. We just regroup and keep going.”
That depth will continue to be built over the next couple weeks as players get more reps and have chances to stand out with Bain sidelined.
The Hurricanes used 11 defensive linemen on Saturday. Bain and Baron started on the outside, while Akheem Mesidor and Michigan State transfer Simeon Barrow started at defensive tackle. Beyond those four, those that got playing time included Marshall Elijah Alston, N.C. State transfer C.J. Clark, redshirt sophomore Ahmad Moten, sophomore Malik Bryant, true freshman Justin Scott, sixth-year redshirt senior Anthony Campbell and redshirt freshman Josh Horton.
“We just kept rolling different guys in there,” Guidry said. “We played different guys at the tackle position. We were able to play five defensive ends, which was good,, and we rolled Akheem Mesidor inside as well. We stayed fresh. I thought it helped us in the second half. I do think that’s the strength of our defense, and we can continue to play a lot of people. I think we’ll be able to play a little bit more as we go and get more guys experience.”
Added Baron, who had two tackles for loss and a sack on Saturday: “It says a lot about the depth. We’ve got a lot of top guys in the room, so I think it’s just a big thing when the group can just come back together, coach [Jason] Taylor can get us lined back up and just keep playing ball.”
And they did just that.
In addition to Baron, Alston had one-and-a-half tackles for loss (including a half-sack), while Clark and Moten were each credited with a half-tackle for loss.
“As a coach, you hate to lose your good ones like that in the game,” Guidry said, “but the next guy got up there and played.”
As for Guidry’s thoughts on a couple specific defensive linemen, here’s what he said on Monday...
▪ On Mesidor, who played in just three games in 2023 before needing to get surgery on both of his feet but impressed during fall camp: “He played hard and played good. I’m sure he thinks he could play better, but it’s been a long time since he played football. He played some inside, played some outside. I think you’ll see him get better through the next probably two or three games to where he’ll be back in stride. He looked a little tired at their times, but he’s been limited in practice. He hasn’t practiced whole practices, so he’s really not in total game shape yet.”
▪ On Baron: “He made a bunch of good plays. When he tried to pull it, he hit the quarterback like three times. He had a big hit on the interception that Meesh [defensive back Mishael Powell] got [in the third quarter]. But probably the most impressive play was him trying to run down the running back [on the touchdown]. He was chasing. He couldn’t catch him. He made a swipe at him. That’s what winning football is about because if he makes that stop right there and we hold them to a field goal, you never know how that goes. I was really proud of how hard he played.”
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