‘Three and four all day’: Bain, Mesidor a needed one-two punch for Miami defense
With the game on the line and the Miami Hurricanes needing a stout pass rush, they knew exactly where to turn.
Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor on back-to-back plays made their presence known when it mattered the most to seal the Hurricanes’ 27-24 upset win against Notre Dame on Sunday.
Two sacks — the first with both playing on the edge and meeting at Notre Dame CJ Carr in the Fighting Irish backfield, the second with them playing side-by-side to ambush Carr from the right side — punctuated a stellar effort.
“When the lights are up, it’s cool outside, and the moment is right, we’re gonna get out there,” Mesidor said. “Three and four all day.”
It’s a moment that in some senses has been three years in the making.
Mesidor and Bain, who wear Nos. 3 and 4 respectively, haven’t truly had the opportunity to show just how dominant they can be as a tandem during their time as UM teammates. Mesidor was hurt almost all of 2023, playing just two games while Bain played out a year that saw him become the ACC’s Defensive Rookie of the Year. Bain missed four games in 2024 after an injury in Miami’s season opener against Florida and wasn’t quite 100% the rest of the way.
Sunday provided a glimpse of the two at their best. And if it’s any indication for what it can mean for the Hurricanes’ defense the rest of the way, watch out.
“It means so much,” said Bain, who on Tuesday was named the ACC Defensive Lineman of the Week. “We can go about our business now and see everything we put in the work for actually come to fruition on the field.”
Bain and Mesidor combined for 11 tackles and the two sacks on Sunday. Bain also had a fourth-quarter interception on a wild play that started with cornerback Damari Brown deflecting a pass and then nickel corner Keionte Scott kicking the ball before it landed in Bain’s arms. Pro Football Focus credited each with four quarterback pressures.
The hope is that’s just the start, as No. 5 Miami (1-0) prepares for its next game against Bethune-Cookman (0-1) on Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium (7 p.m., ACCNX).
“If you want to win football games, you’ve gotta have people like that to rush the passer in the fourth quarter,” Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal said. “Some of these games are going to go down to the wire. Those guys, they work themselves to their minimal body fat. Mesidor got himself to 265, 270. Bain about 275. Really trimmed down, worked on their conditioning relentlessly — not just about what we did in the summer, but in practice. That’s where you really see it. There’s one way to get a football shape: Play football really hard, and that’s what they do. If that ball slips out there, they’re hauling butt to chase down the ball. Bain being there for the interception, that’s not a surprise. That’s every day in practice. Now, the ball hasn’t bounced off an ankle and landed in his hands, but he’s always been there. And when you haul to the ball, good things typically happen.”
The two have had a bond since before they even stepped foot on campus. They met on the same recruiting trip in 2022 — Mesidor coming via the transfer portal from West Virginia, Bain ahead of his senior season at Miami Central. When they became teammates in 2023, Mesidor knew instantly that Bain had a bright future.
“He just sat back, watched, listened and learned,” Mesidor said. “You can tell he wanted it so bad.”
That relationship has continued to evolve over the past three years. Bain and Mesidor have a similar body build and play a similar style of game, so they can bounce ideas off each other while watching film and studying each other’s game.
Plus, there’s some friendly competition between them.
“It’s always a race to the quarterback with me and Rueben,” Mesidor said.
First-year Miami defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman will certainly take that. His system relies on disruption and chaos coming from the line of scrimmage. That was on display often against Notre Dame, with the Hurricanes generating 10 quarterback pressures on 32 Carr dropbacks, even with the Fighting Irish going with a lot of screens and quick passes early in the game.
“The way they played all game, the way they set edges, the way they knock the line of scrimmage back, the way they canceled gaps, defeating the line of scrimmage and knocking the guys back off the ball, they played like that all night,” Hetherman said. “I thought they did a really good job start to finish. The biggest thing for us now is we go to we got to earn the right to rush the quarterback a little bit more. [Against Notre Dame,] we saw a ton of screens. We saw a ton of perimeter quick game. Didn’t see a lot of vertical passes until a little bit later in the game, and then they can pin their ears back a little bit more, but our ability to get to the quarterback up front, we’re excited about what we can do. Now, we’ve just gotta get more opportunities where we throw them off track or or in a situation where hopefully we play from ahead to be able to rush quarterback a little bit more.”
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