The 2026 NFL Draft saw nine Miami Hurricanes selected, marking the program's best showing in two decades. This draft class, featuring three first-round picks, signals a strong resurgence for Miami football under coach Mario Cristobal.
Key points
Nine Miami Hurricanes selected in the 2026 NFL Draft
Best draft class for Miami since 2004
Three first-round picks included
Mario Cristobal's rebuild is showing results
Five defensive players drafted
Mentioned in this story
Mario CristobalPittsburgh
Miami HurricanesNFL Draft
The 2026 NFL Draft is over. The picks are in. The hats have been put on, the jerseys have been held up, and the phone calls and handshakes are already being cut into highlight packages. And when the final tally came in it was nine Miami Hurricanes selected across three days in Pittsburgh, an indication of a program headed very much in the right direction, if not already there.
It was not the record-breaking twelve that optimists had dreamed about or the ten-plus that would have been the most out of Miami since the 2002 class. But nine stamps Mario Cristobal’s rebuild with the most emphatic possible seal of approval – one year after QB Cam Ward went first overall and months after a national championship appearance where next year’s expectations are even higher. Even though it remained in single digits, this is the most Canes drafted since the 2004 class which also had nine. When players commit to Miami, or any school, the draft placement is always a key indicator and this number nine represents the clearest, loudest statement yet that The U isn’t coming back, but it is back.
Cristobal came to Miami promising to build in the trenches, recruit with purpose, and produce the kind of draft class that makes NFL teams cross the country for visits and makes recruits look at Coral Gables differently. He has done just that. And nine picks – including three in the first round, five on defense, three offensive linemen, and a quarterback who immediately enters a starting competition – is the proof.
Night One: Three First-Rounders and History in the Trenches
Thursday’s first round set the tone fast and set it loud.
OT Francis Mauigoa went 10th overall to the New York Giants, the second offensive lineman off the board just behind Spencer Fano, and the highest-drafted Miami offensive lineman since Ereck Flowers went ninth overall to the Giants in 2015. Then, at No. 15, DE Rueben Bain Jr. landed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers – a pick that touched off a story that only gets better the more you pull at the thread. And at No. 22, EDGE Akheem Mesidor was called by the Los Angeles Chargers to give Miami three defensive players or offensive linemen in the first round for the first time since 2002.
The Mauigoa-Bain tandem going in the top 15 was proof of the trench work put in by Cristobal. The OL/DL pair from the same school to go inside the top 15 of the same draft is an impressive feat marking one of the most dominant two-player statements a single program made in this draft. For a program where Cristobal preached trench dominance from his very first press conference, there is no more fitting punctuation. This is even better because Mauigoa and Bain were recruited together to Miami and grew naturally with Cristobal.
Then there’s Bain and Mesidor together. At No. 15 and No. 22 respectively, they became the first pair of defensive ends from the same school to both be selected in the first round since – wait for it – Miami’s own Jaelan Phillips (No. 18) and Gregory Rousseau (No. 30) in 2021. And critically, Bain and Mesidor went earlier than Phillips and Rousseau did, making them the highest-drafted Miami DE tandem in program history. Before that 2021 Miami pair, the previous time it had happened anywhere was NC State’s Mario Williams (No. 1) and Manny Lawson (No. 22) in 2006, coached by former Miami coach Manny Diaz. It has now happened twice in five years at Miami. Both times under a defensive staff that understood how to develop pass rushers. Both times sending a message to every recruit in the country watching the first round.
Of all the storylines to unspool over three days in Pittsburgh, none lands quite like this one.
Rueben Bain Jr. is a Buccaneer. CB/S Keionte Scott – selected 116th overall on Day 3 – is also a Buccaneer. Two Miami Hurricanes, on the same roster, in the same secondary and pass rush, wearing the same colors.
Now pull the thread back. The defining play of Miami’s iconic 2025 College Football Playoff run – the play that lit up every highlight package and will be replayed every time someone tries to explain what this Hurricanes era felt like – was Keionte Scott’s pick-six against Ohio State in the CFP quarterfinal. The interception that put Miami up 14-0, the one that turned a tense game into a statement, the one Scott returned for a touchdown with the kind of instinct that makes NFL teams drive across the country for visits. But that play didn’t happen in a vacuum. The play happened because Julian Sayin felt pressure. And the player who forced that pressure, who disrupted the pocket and forced the rushed throw that Scott turned into history? Rueben Bain Jr.
They did it together in Miami and in Dallas during the Cotton Bowl, and everywhere in between. Now they’ll do it together in Tampa. You could not write this better. And they join Al-Quadin Muhammad, the veteran Miami defensive end who has been a productive presence in the Buccaneers’ front seven and who represents the kind of ProCane legacy Bain is now walking into. Tampa Bay didn’t just add two players this weekend but they added a pivotal and fitting connection.
The Arizona Cardinals Welcome Beck to a Real Quarterback Competition
QB Carson Beck was one of the more pleasant surprises of the weekend as he was QB3 in the class going 65th overall to the Arizona Cardinals on Friday night, and the timing could not be more perfect or more loaded with possibility.
The Cardinals released Kyler Murray in March after seven turbulent seasons, choosing to absorb the dead cap hit rather than continue an era that had long since run out of runway. Arizona headed into the draft with Jacoby Brissett – a capable backup entering his age-34 season – as their primary option under first-year head coach Mike LaFleur. Enter Carson Beck at pick 65.
Beck did have ups and downs but he’s a 37-6 starter across two power conference programs. He led Georgia to the CFP. He transferred to Miami, took the Hurricanes to the national championship game, threw 30 touchdowns with a 72.4% completion rate. He joins Arizona as the QB3 in this class behind two quarterbacks who went in the first round (Fernando Mendoza and Ty Simpson) – but in a situation where the starting job is genuinely available. LaFleur’s offense was built in Los Angeles under Sean McVay, a system that prizes intelligent pocket management and pre-snap processing. Beck excels at exactly those things and if he pushes Brissett in training camp there is a real possibility Miami’s quarterback is starting NFL games in the NFC West in 2026. No program can say more than that from a single Day 2 pick, especially after Cam Ward was an immediate starter with Tennessee as a rookie last year.
Five Players on Defense: The Defensive Presence Continues Under Corey Hetherman
Miami put five players on defense across the three days in Pittsburgh, and the NFL lore attached to each landing spot borders on the surreal.
Akheem Mesidor joins the Los Angeles Chargers – and Denzel Perryman. Perryman, the hard-hitting Miami linebacker who brings a veteran presence in the Bolts locker room. He has been a mainstay since 2024 after rejoining the franchise he originally came up with in 2015. Mesidor arrives from the same program with a respected #DEU moniker and a pass rush pedigree that gives Jim Harbaugh’s defense an elite young edge to develop around Justin Herbert.
Joining Mesidor in the city of Los Angeles but on a different franchise is WR CJ Daniels, who was selected by the Rams in the sixth round. Daniels – the persistent, quietly elite receiver who survived knee and foot injuries at LSU and emerged with seven touchdowns and elite catchability including the iconic touchdown against Notre Dame – went 197th overall to the Los Angeles Rams, where he joins Kamren Kinchens, the Miami safety who has become one of the more promising young defensive backs in the league. Daniels heads to LA hoping to make more contested catches as iconic as his one-handed grab against Notre Dame that became a symbol of everything this Miami offense was. In the NFC West, Beck will be suiting up in the Cardinal red of Arizona. Beck and Daniels will face each other twice a year in the NFC West.
S Jakobe Thomas – the quiet gem who multiple analysts predicted would make teams regret not drafting him earlier — went 98th to the Minnesota Vikings on Friday. Thomas is a physical, downhill box safety who plays with instinct and fury, the exact kind of player that winning teams are built on below the surface. The Vikings drafted him knowing exactly what they’re getting: a culture player who was undervalued and will prove it.
Keionte Scott’s landing in Tampa was already documented above. But his profile deserves its own line: Scott went 116th overall, likely falling because he plays a very specific role on defense but “his energy could power the building,” and this is good fit for him. His pick-six against Ohio State set the standard for what great defensive play from Miami looks like. Now he gets to play alongside the man who helped make it happen.
Shortly after the draft ended, defensive leader and LB Wesley Bissainthe signed as a priority undrafted free agent with the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Offensive Line: 3/5ths of a Starting Unit Drafted
Here’s a number that deserves its own paragraph: of the five starters who anchored Miami’s offensive line to a national championship appearance in 2025, three of them – Mauigoa (No. 10, Giants), Markel Bell (No. 68, Eagles), and Anez Cooper (No. 188, Jets) – heard their names called in Pittsburgh. Three-fifths of an offensive line drafted in the same class. That almost never happens in college football, let alone at a program that was being called a developmental wasteland five years ago. Oh, and reports are C James Brockermeyer has already been picked up as a priority free agent by the Falcons.
Bell at 68th to the Eagles brings his 6’9″ frame, 36-inch arms, and 87-inch wingspan to a Philadelphia offensive line room with a strong history of developing length-first tackles into legitimate starters. Cooper at 188th to the Jets is a beautiful subplot in its own right: he joins former teammate Kiko Mauigoa and Tyler Baron, both of whom were selected by the Jets in 2025, creating a small Miami colony on the New York roster. There is also Darrell Jackson Jr., who spent one year with the Hurricanes after his time at Florida State and went 103rd to the Jets – technically a Seminole, but with a foot in both worlds. And lurking in the same city in the Meadowlands? Francis Mauigoa, now a Giant, will be in the same city/stadium for years to come.
The Near-Misses and What’s Still Possible
James Brockermeyer, Wesley Bissainthe, Keelan Marion, and David Blay were not among the nine names called in Pittsburgh. That stings, because all three had legitimate arguments for Day 3 consideration and because a twelfth or eleventh pick would have pushed this class into genuinely historic territory. But UDFA signing periods opened Saturday night, and all three have the kind of profiles – Brockermeyer already being picked up by the Falcons as well as Wesley Bissainthe who sign with the Chiefs. Marion and Blay should generate real training camp competition wherever they land. The draft isn’t the end of the story for any of them.
The broader context: there were also one-year Hurricanes who helped the overall Miami tally. WR Colbie Young – a Georgia transfer who spent one season in Coral Gables before returning to the transfer portal – went 140th overall to the Cincinnati Bengals and will be linked with former offensive teammates Jalen Rivers and Matt Lee. As mentioned, DT Darrell Jackson Jr. – a Florida State transfer who put in one year at Miami – went 103rd to the Jets. Their connections to this Miami class are a footnote, but they’re part of the fabric of what modern college football looks like, and their departures from Coral Gables with NFL Draft outcomes is a testament to what playing in this system can do for a prospect’s stock.
What It All Means
Nine picks. Three first-rounders — the first time Miami has had three first-rounders since 2007. Five defensive players in the first 116 picks. Three offensive linemen selected across three days (and a fourth picked up right after the draft). A quarterback going in the third round to a team with a genuine starting vacancy. A defensive back going to the same team as the pass rusher who made his defining play possible.
This is the most important Miami draft class since the early 2000s, full stop. And critically, it came on the heels of a College Football Playoff National Championship appearance and arrived in a year when recruiting under Cristobal continues to bring top-five classes to South Florida. The 2002 record of 11 picks still stands – for now. But the foundation being built in Coral Gables, the talent pipeline, the trench development, the defensive/offensive coordinator production under Corey Hetherman/Shannon Dawson (both signed to extensions), the offensive line depth that will keep Mauigoa’s absence from immediately felt – including the number one recruit in the nation in Jackson Cantwell already on campus – all of it points to a program that is not done making noise in Pittsburgh or when the draft is held next year in Washington and the year after and after that…
Nine players who make nine distinct pieces of a story that started when Mario Cristobal looked at a program that had fallen and promised to build it back the right way. You can’t tell the NFL story without the Miami Hurricanes. After a National Championship appearance in 2025 and a 2026 class that announced itself in the first round on a Thursday night in Pittsburgh, rest assured – you won’t be able to tell the next chapter without them either.
Complete 2026 Miami Hurricanes Draft Class:
No. 10 — Francis Mauigoa, OT (New York Giants) — Round 1
No. 15 — Rueben Bain Jr., DE (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) — Round 1