Bain has played 22 collegiate games thus far; 21 if you don't count UF last year. If you extrapolate out Bain's numbers, he would have 25.5 sacks (pause), 155 tackles (86 solo). If you use only Bain's freshman season numbers - you know, when he wasn't hurt - his numbers are almost identical to AD's -29.5 sacks (pause) with 173 tackles. I used this for my stats:
https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/rueben-bain-jr-1.html.
That said, I didn't choose Aaron Donald to create this debate. I chose him to make fun of the tweeter guy and AD was clearly an anomaly at the position. However, after doing the math here, I may be on to something and that's without taking into account things like scheme, stunts, snap counts, etc.
Brother, respectfully:
When u’re attempting to compare a kid to a once in a generational, exception to the rule type player, u’re opening urself up for scrutiny & backlash.
1. Ruben Bain wishes he was on the spectrum of Donald as far as athleticism. U’re talking about a DT that measured in the “elite category” running a sub 4.7 while benching 225 lbs 35x w **** near 10 inch mits.
2. Ur extrapolation to projection is off. Let’s say Bain played all 13 games last season; based upon his #’s, he would’ve been projected for the following stats:
36.5 Total Tkls / 9.5 TFLs / 5.5 sks. (using an 8 game sample)
In 2 full seasons his numbers would’ve been:
26 games: 80.5 Total Tackles/ 22.5 TFLs / 13 sks / 3 FF
Now let’s compare Donald after 2 full seasons:
26 games: 58 Total Tackles/ 19 TFLs / 13 sks / 1 FF
Now on the surface, it’s like “see, this is y Bain compared to Donald is a good comp.” Welllllllll, there’s one glaring issue:
Bain started 12 of the 13 games he played his true freshman year, while Donald didn’t start until his true sophomore year.
So although Bain had a head start on snap counts vs. Donald, Donald’s projections surpassed him. In other words, Bain’s 4-yr body of work falls short of Donald’s 3-yr body of work as their careers progress.
So let’s extend this out & project Bain to play the same total amount of games as Donald (51):
Bain: 51 g: 161 total tackles / 45 TFLs / 26 sks / 6 FF
Donald: 51 g: 181 total tackles / 67 TFLs / 29.5 sks / 6 FF
% of plays behind L.O.S: Bain: 28%
% of plays behind L.O.S: Donald: 37%
This type of production + off the charts athleticism have lent Donald to be in the convo of GOAT DTs in NFL history.
Instead of comparing Bain to Donald in respects to tweeners, the better comparison should’ve been another So. Fla player that played at Pitt, Calijah Kancey, who also happened to be a 1st Rounder.
They’ve put up similar stats as starters, & Kancey really asserted himself in his 2nd yr w/ Tampa Bay. They also have similar builds, as well. If Bain can produce like he did his true frosh yr, then he can position himself as a 3 & done. Even though Kancey technically played 4 yrs at Pitt, he started only 2.5 of those 4 yrs.
