Rueben Bain picked in NFL draft. How he fits with Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Rueben Bain, star pass rusher for the Miami Hurricanes, went 15th overall in the 2026 NFL draft to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Here's how he fits.
The crux of a ferocious Miami Hurricanes defense, Rueben Bain Jr. was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the No. 15 pick in the 2026 NFL draft.
Bain has been a force over the past three seasons, winning ACC Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2025 as the Hurricanes made it all the way to the national championship game . The Miami Central High School product burst onto the scene as a freshman, and the defense took a massive step back while he battled injuries in 2024. But alongside fellow projected first-round pick Akheem Mesidor, Bain was part of a terrifying pass rush that finished fifth in the nation in scoring and first in sacks.
He sacked Marcel Reed three times in Miami's College Football Playoff opener at Texas A&M , adding Ohio State's Julian Sayin and Indiana's Fernando Mendoza , who went No. 1 overall to the Las Vegas Raiders earlier in the night, to his sack list throughout the CFP. Bain was considered a sleeper No.
1 overall pick early in the season, but his stock fell at the NFL scouting combine in February when his short arm measurements made waves in draft circles. Then on April 13, news broke that Bain was the driver in a 2024 car crash that put a woman in a coma. She died three months later.