Bucs first-round draft pick Rueben Bain Jr. participates in a drill on the first day of rookie minicamp Friday. “He looked like he was in midseason form,” head coach Todd Bowles says.
Bucs first-round draft pick Rueben Bain Jr. participates in a drill on the first day of rookie minicamp Friday. “He looked like he was in midseason form,” head coach Todd Bowles says.
Rueben Bain Jr. stepped off the bus first at the AdventHealth Training Center on Thursday wearing a No. 99 Bucs jersey backward so one word hit first: SAPP.
The message was impossible to miss.
Bain and Warren Sapp both came out of Miami. Both arrived in Tampa Bay as first-round picks charged with bringing violence, swagger and disruption to the defensive line. So before Bain even took a rep at rookie minicamp, he made sure everyone knew whose path he was chasing.
“It was a sense of pride,” Bain said. “Everybody can see the Sapp and see the No. 99 for the Bucs. It speaks to the brotherhood we have at the University of Miami. … This is home for me.”
Then the first rookie minicamp workout came Friday and Bain backed up the statement. He didn’t look like a rookie edge rusher. He looked like a tone-setter.
“He looked like he was in midseason form,” head coach Todd Bowles said.
Bain led the Bucs outside linebackers through a series of drills on the blocking sled. His ability to bend low to the ground was on display during the hoop drill. He was so explosive getting off the snap that he routinely beat blockers around the edge for would-be sacks.
To put it mildly, Bain didn’t perform like a rookie. It became clear during the 90-minute practice that he wasn’t taking a single rep at anything less than full speed.
“No, he’s not, and he brings a certain attitude to your defense, obviously,” Bowles said. “We tried to get a couple of those guys in here this year, obviously with Bain, A’Shawn (Robinson’s) attitude. You’re talking about the newcomers, (Josiah) Trotter and Keionte (Scott) as well along with (Calijah) Kancey and all the guys we already have on defense. It just brings them closer together and makes them push each other to work harder.”
Bain said he had some modest goals entering rookie minicamp. “Establishing (trust with) my coaches,” he said. “Trusting my teammates. Showing why they picked me. Being the player they had expectations for when they took me in the draft.”
As he has done for much of his coaching career, Bowles played quarterback during the defensive install period at practice.
“I can see defensively who has a vein in their head and may need to see it again,” Bowles said. “Or if they do the wrong thing, I can put it into a formation to where they learn from it and correct mistakes better that way. I can see everybody’s eyes and I can see everybody’s face and it’s more for me — not to play quarterback — but for me to see the entire picture and know who needs it again and who may miss something.
“When a coach is telling them something and they still got a vein in their head, they didn’t comprehend, so I’ll probably need to run that play again so they can get that. It’s a good view for me to see whether they’re getting it or not.”
![New Buc Rueben Bain Jr. is proud of his Miami roots, which he share with a Hall of Fame great, Warren Sapp.](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 null null"/%3E)
New Buc Rueben Bain Jr. is proud of his Miami roots, which he share with a Hall of Fame great, Warren Sapp.
Clearly, Bain picked things up quickly. The Bucs may have been surprised that he was still available with the No. 15 overall pick, but what he demonstrated during his first NFL practice did not shock them.
“Obviously, he’s from Miami so he’s going to be practicing in the heat where a lot of the other guys are going to struggle adjusting to this weather,” Bowles said. “It didn’t bother him at all. He came in in great shape, and he ran around well, and he’s kind of picked up some things very well.”
Let’s be clear about one thing. Bain isn’t trying to compare himself to Sapp, a first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer. But he also isn’t afraid to continue to try and meet the standard set by him at Miami and now Tampa Bay.
“He’s got an old soul, so to speak,” Bowles said of Bain. “He understands his lineage. He understands the guys that came before him. They’ve got a lot of great players down at the University of Miami, as well as the high schools down there, as well as he grew up around all those guys. He grew up around Teddy Bridgewater and Lavonte (David) and Kancey and all those guys himself.
“He understands tempo, he understands pace, he understands how to play hard. He understands to pay homage to the guys that come before him and were down there and he patterns his game like that.”
For Bain, there is the work he will have to put in as a rookie on the defensive line. Then there is his lineage. He takes pride in both.
• • •
Sign up for our Sports Today newsletter to get daily updates on the Bucs, Rays, Lightning and college football across Florida.
Every weekday, tune into our Sports Day Tampa Bay podcast to hear reporter Rick Stroud break down the biggest stories in Tampa Bay sports.
Never miss out on the latest with your favorite Tampa Bay sports teams. Follow our coverage on X and Facebook.
Join the Conversation
Anyone can view a sampling of recent comments, but you must be a Times subscriber to contribute. Log in above or subscribe here.
Conversations are opinions of our readers and are subject to the Community Guidelines.