After an ‘eventful’ sophomore season, Hurricanes’ Bain ready to ‘learn and grow’
Corey Hetherman still remembers seeing him for the first time. Hetherman was the linebackers coach at Rutgers and his team was going through warmups on Dec. 28, 2023, for the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankees Stadium against the Miami Hurricanes. While Hetherman’s focus was figuring out how to limit Miami’s offense, one player in particular who wasn’t on his scouting report immediately caught his eye.
“When he came on the field,” Hetherman said, “I was like ‘Who’s that?’”
That player was defensive lineman Rueben Bain Jr., one of the top players on the Hurricanes’ defense that Hetherman is now leading as defensive coordinator.
Bain, now a junior, will be integral to Hetherman’s defense, which relies on a four-man front to create pressure and wreak havoc at the line of scrimmage to create turnover situations for the back end of the defense.
But to do that, Bain will need to round back into the form he showcased during his freshman year before taking a slight step back last season.
Bain, a four-star prospect coming out of Miami Central High, excelled his first year of college football. He was the ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year and a Freshman All-American after recording 44 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks. The hope, the expectation, was that Bain would build on that in Year 2.
It didn’t happen, not completely.
Bain sustained an injury on the first drive of Miami’s season opener against the Florida Gators and missed the next four games before returning for the Hurricanes’ come-from-behind victory against Cal and starting all of the final eight games. He still put up decent numbers — 23 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks — but the explosiveness and disruptiveness at the line of scrimmage that he showcased as a rookie wasn’t always there.
Bain simply called last season, which Miami finished 10-3 after starting 9-0, “eventful.”
“And that’s not always a good thing,” Bain said, “but do you learn and grow? Got hurt, came back, was able to see some things, take a look at things and learn from it. It wasn’t our best year as a team. But, you know, we get to live and learn now. We get to come back again, go to the drawing board, be a better team and better player.”
Now fully healthy and playing in a new scheme that should suit his style of play, Bain is ready to show that he can be that dominant version of himself that he showcased as a freshman. He dropped 10 pounds during the offseason to be “a little more mobile, more flexible, have a faster twitch.”
He has put in extra work off to the side with defensive line coach Jason Taylor in order to “pick the brain of a Hall of Famer” and “soak up all the game I can.”
“It’s just me and him 1 on 1,” Bain said. “I get to really key in on the small stuff.”
Hetherman said the Bain he has seen through the Hurricanes’ first three practices is reminiscent of the player he saw on the opposite sideline two years ago.
“He’s very talented, and you can see it,” Hetherman said. “He hit a move on Monday in practice that you can tell it’s just natural. He went, moved, didn’t win, countered back, and he’s right on the quarterback immediately. He just plays fast, and then just the reps that he’s had, the speed that he plays at and then how physical he is at the point of attack, that’s a guy that’s going to set the tempo for the team. Every day, we need to make sure he takes it right from flex through stretch into team [drills] and the walk-throughs. There are other guys that are gonna watch that, and that’s going to continue to build the team.”
While the Hurricanes figure to have an experienced bunch starting on the defensive line — Bain and sixth-year senior Akheem Mesidor on the edge, with Louisiana Tech transfer David Blay and redshirt junior Ahmad Moten Sr. likely getting the bulk of the run at defensive tackle — Miami will be relying on a group of younger players to serve as valuable depth.
Chief among them are sophomores such as Justin Scott, Armando Blount and Cole McConathy II.
Bain said the underclassmen have been “real savvy guys who are eager to learn.”
“They’re in the film room as much as me. They’re doing extra work as much as me,” Bain said. “They see that they’ve got an actual shot to have some playing time this year, and they’ve got the right head on to come in and make a make an impact. They don’t want to be in a rotation. They want to take my spot and that’s what I like.”
Even at that, those younger players are looking up to Bain to set the standard.
“Rueben’s one of those reliable guys,” Scott said. “You know he’s always gonna come in and make that play. ... You he ain’t gonna mess up.”
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