Canes Making Presence Felt at NFL Combine

INDIANAPOLIS – Even before he stepped up to the podium, a crowd had already gathered.

When Rueben Bain Jr. finally began taking questions, that crowd only seemed to continue growing.

For his part, Bain – a defensive lineman widely projected to be among the top picks in this year’s NFL Draft – answered as many of those questions as he could, touching on a variety of topics as he went.

He spoke about Miami’s memorable postseason run and what it meant to him to play for his hometown Hurricanes. He addressed online criticism of his body type and skill set. And he shared how some of his individual conversations were going with the teams, general managers, and coaches he’d met with at this year’s NFL Combine.

No topic was seemingly off limits.

“I over-prepared, so I was ready for anything,” he said of those individual meetings.

Bain’s widely attended media session was undoubtedly one of the Combine’s highlights on Wednesday, the day before players from across the country will begin taking the field at Lucas Oil Stadium for drills at the NFL’s highly anticipated pre-draft showcase.

But the Miami native is hardly the only Hurricane looking to make an impression this week.

Joining Bain in Indianapolis are a slew of his former Miami teammates including quarterback Carson Beck, wide receiver CJ Daniels, offensive linemen Markel Bell, Anez Cooper and Francis Mauigoa, defensive backs Keionte Scott and Jakobe Thomas, linebacker Wesley Bissainthe and fellow defensive lineman Akheem Mesidor.

It marks the second straight year the Hurricanes have had 10 players invited to the Combine – a marked improvement from the five former Miami players who were invited to Indianapolis in 2024 and the duo of Will Mallory and Tyrique Stevenson who were the only Hurricanes at the Combine in 2023.

And as the number of Hurricanes in Indianapolis has increased year by year, so has Miami’s win total.

Just five weeks ago, the Hurricanes capped the first 13-win season in program history with an appearance in the College Football Playoff Championship Game.

While Miami came up just short in its quest to win its sixth national title, the Hurricanes notched wins in both the Fiesta Bowl and the Cotton Bowl during their historic playoff run and beat rivals Notre Dame, Florida and Florida State during the regular season.

That all came after a memorable 2024 campaign that saw former Hurricanes quarterback Cam Ward – the eventual No. 1 pick in last year’s draft – rewrite the Miami record book as he led the program to its first 10-win season since 2017.

The Hurricanes have, in the last two years, reclaimed a spot among college football’s elite.

Now, they’re making their presence felt at the Combine.

“It feels like [head coach] Mario Cristobal came and came with a plan and that plan has played out, starting with Cam Ward and him coming over from Washington State last year and how quickly things got up to speed,” said CBS Sports draft analyst Ryan Wilson. “There were a lot of dudes on that team last year. Elijah Arroyo got drafted. Then this year, with Carson Beck, a different type of quarterback, but I thought he elevated his game and then all the players around him … Sisi Mauigoa is going to be a first-round pick. … Markel on the other side played really well. You have CJ Daniels, the list goes on and on, and I haven’t even gotten to Reuben Bain Jr., Akeem Mesidor, David Blay, Keionte Scott. … I was actually struggling to make sure I could remember all the players because there’s so many.”

Said Cameron Wolfe of the NFL Network, “I think to me, more than any national title, it’s the presence, it’s the meaning of The U feels different again. You see that and it’s like, ‘Okay, you know there’s talent there.’ You have Cam go number one [last year] and that’s great. Cool. But to do it a second year, to do it with guys who are not quarterbacks, but are o-linemen and d-linemen, it shows that [Miami] is a place to be respected. … I think more than anything, The U had lost its allure for a little bit. It wasn’t considered one of the top five or top 10 programs. I think we’re back to that now and to me, that’s the biggest thing.”

Bissainthe, who starred with Bain at Miami Central High School before both became Hurricanes, has been an integral part of Miami’s turnaround.

The linebacker was a freshman when the Hurricanes struggled to a 5-7 record in 2022. As he now prepares to take the next step in his career, he does so knowing Miami is a program on the rise.

For him, that’s a special source of pride.

“Man, it’s been amazing. A couple of those guys, like Anez Cooper, he was one of the guys I came in with, so for us, it feels a little different,” Bissainthe said. “We were part of the turnaround. We were part of the switch around. We worked hard for this. It’s not easy. It’s not easy, so we just kept our heads down, kept our faith going and we did what we could do.”

And as the Hurricanes showcase their individual skills here in Indianapolis over the next few days, every expectation is that come next fall, a new generation of Hurricanes will continue making big plays – and continue working their way to Indianapolis, and hopefully, the NFL.

“They’re ready. They’re ready. I feel like they’re ready,” Bissainthe said. “I feel like it’s a new year. They’re taking this year with a different mindset and they’re going to do what they’ve got to do to get on the field this year.”

Said Mesidor, “I’m very excited to watch those guys play. I’m going to be there during spring ball, so I’m going to watch those guys and help them out.”