What Rueben Bain achieved last season as a rookie with the Miami Hurricanes is already behind him.
ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year? Whatever.
Freshman All-American? Means nothing at this point.
With seven and a half sacks he is the best player on his team and ranks second with 12.5 tackles for loss? That’s it, right?
“I’m just getting ready for what’s next,” Bain said. “I know there’s more to come. I’m not happy with what happened last year.”
Bain has established himself as a promising up-and-coming defensive lineman.
But he knows he can’t rest on his laurels. He has to stay in the present and work to get even better in his second season with the Hurricanes.
“I’m just where I am,” Bain said. “I know that if I’m here today, I’ll be better tomorrow. So I try to focus on what’s happening now and not look too far into the future.”
That can be difficult considering the amount of hype and praise he gets. Bain was named an All-ACC selection in the preseason and is on the waiting lists for the Bednarik Award (given to the nation’s best defensive player) and the Lombardi Award (given to the nation’s best offensive or defensive player).
“His potential is limitless,” said linebacker Francisco Mauigoa. “He’s an incredible person off the field and a phenomenal football player. What he did last year was just the beginning. That was just a small taste of what he can do.”
What does Bain think about these awards?
“I’m really excited about it, especially awards of this caliber, but at the end of the day, it also means nothing,” Bain said, “because if I don’t meet expectations, it means nothing. If I don’t do my best, it means nothing. The watch lists are like a nice pat on the back. You still have to go out and work hard to get the actual awards. So it’s like, thank you for looking out for me, but I know what the bigger picture is.”
That big picture is helping the Hurricanes regain relevance. Miami went just 7-6 last season in Bain’s first season with the program. Expectations are high for UM this year — the Hurricanes are ranked No. 19 in the preseason AP Top 25 poll and should finish third in the ACC behind Florida State and Clemson.
To do that, Bain ignores the outside noise and talk about his individual potential and focuses on what he can do every day to hone his craft.
“I try to stay the same person in every situation,” Bain said. “I can say it’s a little different now, but I just try to keep football as football, make it as simple as possible and just be the same person I was last year.”
Bain has had help to get to this point.
Consider his relationship with defensive lineman Akheem Mesidor. The two formed an instant bond when Bain arrived on campus. Mesidor’s season was hampered by injuries to both feet earlier this year. When Bain subsequently took Mesidor’s starting spot, Mesidor did everything he could to help Bain succeed.
“He helped me a lot. He was my main guy, especially when I first got here,” Bain said. “He was the one who always raised me up, but in a positive way. He always tried to help me. He wasn’t a guy who could have been the bad guy. … He knows I have his back; I’m the young guy with all this hype around him, and I think if he were him, he could have just been an asshole who turned his back on me. But he wasn’t. He was the one who leaned on me and helped me the most out of anyone.”
Mesidor’s view on the relationship?
“When Rueben came last year, just by the way he practiced, you could tell he was hungry,” Mesidor said. “He’s a guy that loves to play. He’s a student of the game, and that’s what I love about him. As soon as he came on campus and I saw all these different things, I tried to be by his side as much as I could. Especially when I was out, I knew he was next. So I just wanted to be there for him and make sure that anything he needed, any questions he had, he could just ask me so I could help him the best I could. That’s how we have a close bond. That’s my guy.”
