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Rueben Bain Jr: Generational

SIBCanes said:
Bain was very good. But you must be young. Vince Worfolk, Russell Maryland, Cortez Kennedy, Jerome Brown Greg Mark, Rusty Medearis, and go way back to Ted Hendricks were all even more dominant. I’m not taking away from anything Bain did. We have had hall of famers.
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I did say recent memory but you are not wrong. Of your names, Vince is the most recent and that was early 2000s. The other guys you mention are 90s and 80s guys.

I was only referencing Suh and Donald as recent all-time greats that Bain should be mentioned with.
 
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It’s insane to me that guys who made hundreds of thousands and sometime millionaires of dollars can get cold feet about a guy with a year of dominate film and another year of probably the most dominate edge tape in the past ten years when you consider the competition all because his arms are an inch or two short!

That’s not even considering the intangibles.

I’d be taking him or Caleb downs if I had the first overall pick.
 
NCCanefan said:
I didn't catch much combine analysis, but seems to me that the OT with long arms just gives Bain more arm to whack down and move on past. JT has really developed their slash moves.
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Major reason why Bain's ghost move is so effective is because of his shorter arms. Makes for faster arm retracting and then re firing off his hands needed for this kind of technique.
 
RealRussellPumps said:
Major reason why Bain's ghost move is so effective is because of his shorter arms. Makes for faster arm retracting and then re firing off his hands needed for this kind of technique.
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Sure seems like that is true. Maybe Bain will launch a great nfl career and the next nfl shiny object will be very powerful, short-armed edge rushers.
 
BostonCanes47 said:
It’s insane to me that guys who made hundreds of thousands and sometime millionaires of dollars can get cold feet about a guy with a year of dominate film and another year of probably the most dominate edge tape in the past ten years when you consider the competition all because his arms are an inch or two short!

That’s not even considering the intangibles.

I’d be taking him or Caleb downs if I had the first overall pick.
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IM STR8 OFF OF CALEB DOWNS...THERE IS NOTHING HE HAS DONE TO ME TO JUSTIFY THE FIRST OVERALL PICK.

BUT BAIN....SHEEEEIIIITTTTT.....

BRYCE FITGERALD A RANGLY TRUE FRESHMAN HAS TURNED THE BALL OVER MORE THAN DOWNS HAD IN HIS WHOLE CAREER IN ONE YEAR HERE AS A BACK UP SAFETY.
 
gogeta4 said:
IM STR8 OFF OF CALEB DOWNS...THERE IS NOTHING HE HAS DONE TO ME TO JUSTIFY THE FIRST OVERALL PICK.

BUT BAIN....SHEEEEIIIITTTTT.....

BRYCE FITGERALD A RANGLY TRUE FRESHMAN HAS TURNED THE BALL OVER MORE THAN DOWNS HAD IN HIS WHOLE CAREER IN ONE YEAR HERE AS A BACK UP SAFETY.
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Doesn't Downs have the Todd Gurley knee trouble? That's what my boy told me, if he does he isn't even draftable.
 
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Ghost move and hump move are undefeated. He’s got a full toolbox, most “keyboard scouts” will be looking at his 40 time, but the real ones will be waiting on that 10 yard split. His get off at his weight has always been the most impressive thing to me since he was a sophomore in HS.

Idc what anyone says bout his arms, he is the closest thing I’ve seen to Reggie White coming out of college.
 
The Sphinx said:
Welp, he’s hands down the best DE we’ve had since Calais Campbell and that was what - 2007?

19 years is about as close to a generation as it gets.
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If we were the only college football program over that span, you might have a point.

Here's a list of several who were similar to Rueben in college and did it in the pros for a long time:

Myles Garrett
Julius Peppers
Mario Williams
Von Miller
Calais

Here are a few more that are likely to end up on the list above:

Micah Parsons
Aidan Hutchinson
Josh Allen
Will Anderson

Here are a few that were similar to Rueben coming out of college and were busts (to varying degrees) in the pros:

Chase Young
Jadeveon Clowney

These players all played their careers during the time frame you laid out (over the past 19 years). Calais Campbell and Mario Williams may well end up in Canton, but I'm not sure they qualify as generational. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure if anyone outside of Garrett and Peppers are generational.

In my mind, generational means loosely one of a kind or the best during a generation's era. 20 years is a fair enough number. Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Shaq, Tom Brady, Shohei Ohtani, Barry Bonds, Reggie White, Wayne Gretzky, Alex Ovechkin, Greg Maddux, Mariano Rivera and a few others are generational. Isiah Thomas, Scottie Pippen, Jaromir Jagr, Tom Glavine, Steve Garvey, Phil Rivers, Eli Manning and Howie Long were all great players in their day, but they were not generational.
 
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I guess the question is why do we really care? Lets say Bain is a bust in the NFL. He still was a great player for us here. Where he is drafted really only impacts his pockets. Lots of college football beasts are just aight or not great in the NFL. Rashan Gary has made a ton of money but isnt all that good a pro. I am just glad he played well here. I wont be too in my happy or sad regardless of how he does in the NFL because I dont care about the NFL and I cant spend his money.
 
TheUBack said:
I guess the question is why do we really care? Lets say Bain is a bust in the NFL. He still was a great player for us here. Where he is drafted really only impacts his pockets. Lots of college football beasts are just aight or not great in the NFL. Rashan Gary has made a ton of money but isnt all that good a pro. I am just glad he played well here. I wont be too in my happy or sad regardless of how he does in the NFL because I dont care about the NFL and I cant spend his money.
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That’s what separated us from our rivals though… not having the rate of busts like they do.

For those who don’t watch the NFL much or at all, I get it… but for years our in state rivals have had all conference types who are trash in the league.

When your guys have high success rate at the next level it’s the ultimate recruiting tool when going after top tier recruits because they care about that.
 
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Damon Wilson will be very good next year for us I think. I think the X factor at DE in 2026 is Hayden Lowe. He was injured all last season. If he turns out as good as advertised, maybe we can be pretty good there. Obviously the others will still develop too. Still expecting a drop off of some kind at DE without Bain and Mesidor, but we will find out if our depth is maybe better in 2026. At clemson and At ND will determine whether we get a first round bye I think in the playoffs. TBD
 
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