After injury-hampered sophomore year, Rueben Bain Jr. is stepping up for Hurricanes
Rueben Bain Jr. barely made it through one possession his sophomore season before things started to unravel. He sustained an injury almost immediately in the Miami Hurricanes’ season-opening win against the Florida Gators in 2024 and wasn’t the same the rest of the season. He missed the next four games and his production the rest of the season wasn’t near what it could be at his peak.
“It was very frustrating,” Bain said, “but that was last year, so just focusing on this year, and I’m super excited. The chance to just go out there and play football again, very healthy, and just play a brand of football that I want to play, it’s an amazing opportunity.”
As the No. 4 Hurricanes (3-0) get set to host the Gators (1-2) at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday (7:30 p.m., ABC), Bain is showcasing the version of himself the Hurricanes were hoping to see this season.
He has been one of the best edge rushers in college football through three weeks and has been an integral part of the Hurricanes’ early improvement on defense from a season ago.
Pro Football Focus has Bain has the highest-graded defensive player entering this week among players with at least 75 snaps this season with a grade of 94.2. He is stuffing the statsheet, with team-leading marks in tackles (15) and quarterback pressures (12) to go along with 2.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, a forced fumble and an interception.
He’s looking a lot more like he did his freshman season when he had 44 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks over 13 games en route to being named the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Defensive Rookie of the Year. Those numbers dipped during his sophomore year to 23 tackles, 55 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks in nine games played.
“When you get banged up after such a highly touted freshman year, that could be really, really frustrating,” Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal said. “It changes everything. When you come back, you’re never fully back to where you were before the injury, and you really haven’t had a chance to develop further than you did before your injury. With the amount of time that he invests, and the way schematically that he’s been able to just make some some plays that have been very impactful in the course of the game has been awesome to watch. This means a lot to him. His teammates mean a lot to him. And I think if you ask him, he’ll tell you that he says he’s got a long ways to go. You know that he’s improved a bunch, but that there’s a lot of things that he’s working on to continue to get better, and he’s looking forward to getting a practice and get right at it.”
Defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman said “it’s no surprise” how Bain is playing early in the season.
“He runs to the ball every play,” Hetherman said. “He’s physical at the point of attack. Every single play, he’s constantly working on his technique. He’s constantly getting better with his hands. Those are the things that show up on game day. And that’s because it’s the result of what he does Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, all week long. And I feel like the days where maybe something didn’t go his way in practice, he’s the first guy when you look at the field post practice, he’s working on whatever it was that he had to fix.”
It’s merely setting the stage for what Bain hopes will continue to be a breakout season.
“It’s an amazing feeling, even throughout the week leading up [to a game],“ Bain said. “You’re giving it your all throughout practice, watching as much film as you can and coming in and getting extra work whether that’s physically, mentally or just getting treatment and actually seeing it pay off on Saturdays and Sunday, it’s a great feeling. It’s something you look back on and you look at it like, ‘Everything I’m doing is actually working and it’s paying off so why not keep it going?’”
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