Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Miami Closes in on Alabama on Bucs' All-Time Draft List

After nabbing the Hurricane duo of OLB Rueben Bain Jr. and CB Keionte Scott in last weekend's draft, the Buccaneers have now selected 14 Miami players in their draft history, just one fewer than their Alabama haul

Apr 27, 2026 at 08:00 AM

Senior Writer/Editor

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers started off their 2026 NFL Draft efforts by shopping close to home, shockingly landing blue-chip edge rusher Rueben Bain Jr. of the University of Miami with the 15th overall pick. Three rounds later, the Buccaneers gave Bain a potential training camp roommate by taking another Hurricane, cornerback Keionte Scott, in the fourth round.

This double-dip from Miami ended a 12-year drought for the Buccaneers, who hadn't lifted a draft pick out of Coral Gables since taking running back Mike James in the sixth round in 2013. The last time Tampa Bay used a first-round pick on a Miami player was in 1995, when future Hall of Famer Warren Sapp came aboard with the 12th-overall selection. The Buccaneers also used the very first pick in the 1987 draft to snare Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Vinny Testaverde of the Hurricanes.

With the selections of Bain and Scott, the Buccaneers have now drafted 14 players in team history from the University of Miami, counting only the annual college draft and not any supplemental or USFL dispersal draft choices. As such, Miami is now breathing down the neck of Alabama as the most prominent school in Bucs draft history. Tampa Bay's selection of outside linebacker Chris Braswell in the second round in 2024 marked the 15th time the franchise has dipped into the Alabama pool on draft weekend.

Here are the top 10 (actually 11) schools in terms of producing Buccaneer draft picks:

1. Alabama…15

2. Miami (FL)…14

3t. Florida State…12

3t. Nebraska…12

3t. Tennessee…12

3t. USC…12

7t. Florida…11

7t. Washington…11

9. Oklahoma…10

10t. Clemson…9

10t. Notre Dame…9

Some additional notes regarding the Buccaneers history of drafting players from certain colleges:

Wide receiver Ted Hurst, selected 84th overall in the third round on Friday night, is the first player the Buccaneers have ever selected from Georgia State. Hurst is just the fifth Georgia State product ever to be drafted and he now has the distinction of being the highest-drafted player ever from that program. The four previous Georgia State draft picks were all taken in the sixth or seventh round.
The Bucs drafting two players from the same school in the same draft is not all that uncommon. The Bain-Scott combination is the 19th such duo in team history, with most recent before 2026 coming in 2020 with the Minnesota pair of Antoine Winfield Jr. and Tyler Johnson. The only time the Bucs have ever used their first two picks on players from the same school was in 1977, when Head Coach John McKay grabbed a pair of his former USC players in Ricky Bell and David Lewis.
Tampa Bay used a fifth-round pick on Notre Dame guard Billy Schrauth on Saturday, a year after tapping into the Fighting Irish pipeline for cornerback Benjamin Morrison in the second round of the 2025 draft. This is the first time the Bucs have drafted a Notre Dame player in back-to-back years.
Fifth-round defensive lineman DeMonte Capehart is the first player the Buccaneers have drafted from Clemson in 15 years. The most recent Clemson pick for Tampa Bay was defensive lineman Da'Quan Bowers in the second round in 2011.

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TAMPA, FL - April 24, 2026 - 2026 First Round Draft Pick Linebacker Rueben Bain Jr. of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' first day at AdventHealth Training Center. Photo By Tori Richman/Tampa Bay Buccaneers