As he nears a return, how Rueben Bain Jr. has worked to help the Miami Hurricanes amid injury

Rueben Bain Jr.’s follow-up to his ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year season has consisted mostly of him being limited to the sidelines. He played just three snaps in the Miami Hurricanes’ season-opening win at the Florida Gators and hasn’t seen the field since while tending to what coach Mario Cristobal has called a soft tissue injury.

Cristobal said Monday there’s a “great chance” Bain returns to the field on Friday when the No. 7 Hurricanes (4-0) host Virginia Tech (2-2) begin Atlantic Coast Conference play.

But that doesn’t mean Bain hasn’t been helping in the interim.

During the past three weeks, Bain has been a visible presence during the team’s pregame warmups, working with younger defensive linemen such as Cole McConathy II as the team goes through drills.

“He wants to be there,” Cristobal said, “and if you can’t contribute physically like he hasn’t in these last three weeks — hopefully we do have him this week — he wants to, in some way, shape or form impact the team in a positive way. So throughout the course this week and in the previous weeks, he has gotten some work, but when he hasn’t been able to work, he’s right there with those guys. He’s with them in the film room, spending extra time with them. He cares about Miami. He cares about his teammates. He’s had a really positive effect.”

Bain is one of the Hurricanes’ top defensive linemen. He’s coming off a freshman season during which he tied for the team lead with seven-and-a-half sacks and finished second on the team with 12.5 tackles for loss. He was named a freshman All-American in the process and wanted to build on that this year.

There’s still time for that to happen but has made sure his time away from the field hasn’t been lost in the process.

“Ruben’s getting close, and Ruben’s a good leader,” defensive coordinator Lance Guidry said. “He’s very mature. I said it before, he wants to get back and he’s seeing a lot of guys play. When he gets back healthy, he’ll be back in the mix like he’s supposed to be, and can’t wait to get him back.”

In the interim, the Hurricanes’ defensive line has done more than held its own. Miami entered the week leading the country in sacks (16) and is tied for fifth in tackles for loss (34).

Tyler Baron and Elijah Alston, who have been Miami’s primary defensive ends to start the season, have combined for seven sacks and 11 tackles for loss. Akheem Mesidor, who missed most of last season due to injuries to both of his feet that required surgery, has one sack and two tackles for loss while playing both of the edge and inside. And defensive tackle Simeon Barrow has two-and-a-half sacks already this season.

Miami’s depth has been on display as well, with the Hurricanes rotating close to a dozen defensive linemen into games throughout the nonconference schedule.

“We’re layered the right way,” Cristobal said. “I think we have some seasoned veterans that have played a lot of football and had a lot of success at different places and here, and then behind them are some high-caliber talented guys that are starting show they’re really good players and they have really, really bright future. We’re capable of using that depth and rolling them in there and keeping the competition levels high. We can run. We can bend. We’re certainly getting better. We’re playing harder. They want more. They do. They want more. They want to be challenged.”

Quotable

“They’ve gotta set the bar. I can’t orchestrate it or shake it. It is what it is. We go in there and watch film. They know the first three or four clips are the standards and that they know there’s something that comes with that. It’s the only fair way to improve your team. I mean, if we met as a staff and mentioned it and also mentioned to the players, the only way to keep a team in a mindset of getting better is to make competition real — not created, not orchestrated, but legitimately have great, tough minded, resilient, hardworking guys going and trying to improve each other and being the best they can be. Not so much, taking this job, taking that guy’s job, that’s here. Competition has been welcomed.” — Cristobal on how playing time will be distributed now that the team is heading into ACC play after emptying the bench during nonconference game blowouts: