The 2026 NFL Draft begins Thursday night in Pittsburgh, and for the first time since the legendary 2001 Miami Hurricanes walked into the 2002 draft and rewrote the record books, the program has a legitimate shot at placing 10 or more players in the same draft class. The floor for this group is somewhere around six or seven picks (including three or four in the first round). The ceiling – if the football gods cooperate – is twelve. That number would beat Miami’s modern-era record of 11 set in 2002, it would represent the most players drafted from any school in the history of the seven-round format.
DRAFT WEEK! 🙌2026 #NFLDraft – April 23-25 on NFL Network/ESPN/ABC 🙌 pic.twitter.com/BHeCRUYXJm
— Miami Hurricanes Football (@CanesFootball) April 20, 2026
The headliners are well established at this point. EDGE Rueben Bain Jr. and OT Francis Mauigoa have spent the entire pre-draft process as consensus top-10 prospects, with multiple mock drafts projecting both inside the top five – which would make them the first OL/DL duo from the same school to crack the top five since Oklahoma’s Gerald McCoy and Trent Williams went third and fourth overall in 2010. EDGE Akheem Mesidor is a near-lock for the first round as well, and if both he and Bain are called on Thursday night, they’ll become one of the highest-drafted pair of defensive ends from the same school in NFL history – surpassing Jaelan Phillips (18th) and Gregory Rousseau (30th), the Miami duo from 2021 who themselves were the first since NC State’s Mario Williams and Manny Lawson in 2006. CB/S Keionte Scott – coming off a dazzling Pro Day performance and fielding numerous visits – has a legitimate late-first-round case and could make it four Miami players called on Night One.
Four Miami Hurricanes Crack Daniel Jeremiah’s Top 50 NFL Draft Board, Uncertainty Whether Bain or Mauigoa Come Off Board First – https://t.co/AAKRG17bJT pic.twitter.com/5ecAw76azn
— CaneSport Miami Hurricanes (@CaneSport) April 20, 2026
Below that elite tier, the picture gets genuinely hard to predict, and that’s what makes this draft so fascinating for Hurricanes fans. The path to 10, 11, or 12 runs through players like OT Markel Bell, OG Anez Cooper, QB Carson Beck, S Jakobe Thomas on Day 2, and then a group of late-round wildcards -WR CJ Daniels, LB Wesley Bissainthe, DL David Blay, C James Brockermeyer – who collectively represent the kind of story that defines a historic class.
Recent history as to darkhorse Canes who get selected or do not hear their name called within seven rounds cuts both ways here. Jonathan Ford, DJ Ivey, and Jaden Davis all heard their names called when almost nobody expected it. Xavier Restrepo and Leonard Taylor, by most measures more talented than their draft-day outcomes, went all three days without a pick and signed as UDFAs. The draft is not a meritocracy at the margins. But there is a serious, grounded case to be made that 12 Hurricanes leave Pittsburgh as NFL players this weekend – and what follows is a final accounting of where each one stands going into the most consequential draft night for this program in over two decades fresh off a national championship appearance.
DE Rueben Bain Jr. (NFL Combine)Height: 6’2”| Weight: 263 pounds | Arm Length: 30 7/8 | Hand: 9 1/8 | Wing: 77 1/2
Dane Brugler’s Ranking (The Athletic): 9, EDGE3 (1st round)Matt Miller’s Ranking (ESPN): 13, EDGE3 (1st round)
Led all edge rushers with 83 pressures in 2025; collected 33.5 tackles for loss and 20.5 career sacks over 38 college games
Elite motor — effort-based sacks that only show on full-game tape
Explosive first step and violent hands at point of attack
Won ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year as a true freshman; repeated as DPOY in 2025
Multiple teams reportedly willing to trade up into the top 8–10 to secure him
30 7/8″ arm length is a historic outlier – below average for the position by nearly 3 inches
Short arms could create leverage problems against long NFL tackles
Questions about scheme fit; best in wide-9 or 4-3 over — not a natural 3-4 OLB
Missed four games in 2024 because of a soft tissue injury; torn left MCL in high school
Prediction: 1st round (9th overall) to the Kansas City Chiefs.