Miami Hurricanes Set for Huge NFL Draft Night With 3 First-Round Picks Looming

Draft day is finally here. And it’s expected three Canes will be taken before the clock runs out on tonight: OT Francis Mauigoa is generally rated in mock drafts going anywhere from pick 3-10, DL Rueben Bain is projected to go in the 7-14 range, and DL Akheem Mesidor is anticipated to be taken somewhere in the 20s.

For reference, the last time three Miami players went in the first round was back in 2007 (Brandon Meriweather, Jon Beason and Greg Olsen).

Day 2 is expected to see nickel Keionte Scott go, and on the final day several more Canes could go – QB Carson Beck is projected as a fourth rounder, although he could sneak in earlier, and also draftable are S Jakobe Thomas, OL Markel Bell, Anez Cooper and James Brockermeyer, and LB Wesley Bissainthe could also perhaps go late.

Add up the above, and that’s 10 potential draftees for Miami. If that holds, it would be the most since 2002, when 10 were taken. The last time nine Canes were taken was in 2017.

CaneSport vs Machine: Breaking Down Miami’s NFL Draft Class

In particular a lot of attention will be on which Cane goes first, since there’s some disagreement on that. Most seem to think it’ll be Mauigoa, and it will also be interesting to see if both go in the top 10 … or not. Because Mel Kiper’s Big Board had Mauigoa at 10 and Bain 15th.

So let’s take a look at both of them a little close as they are the guys that everyone will have eyes on tonight at the top of the draft:

Bain had some question marks about his arm length during the draft process and then some negative publicity regarding a fatal car accident, so we’ll find out tonight if that has an effect. But on the field at UM he showed off explosive playmaking – in his 38 games at Miami he had 20.5 sacks and 33.5 tackles for losses (including five sacks during last year’s CFP run). The former Miami Central 4-star was the ACC Defensive Player of the Year and Ted Hendricks Award Winner while garnering All-American first team honors after tallying 9.5 sacks and 15.5 TFL last year.

Mauigoa? He was a star in his three seasons at Miami, starting from Day 1 as a highly touted 5-star. A consensus first team All-American in 2025, Mauigoa played right tackle for UM and won the 2025 ACC Jacobs Blocking Tropy, honoring the conference’s top blocker. He was the picture of consistency in his Cane career, starting 42 games and never missing one start. He earned an 87.0 pass-blocking grade over the course of the season from Pro Football Focus, which led all qualified FBS right tackles. He allowed just one sack in 205 true pass set snaps, according to PFF, and totaled a 93.7% win rate on those snaps – second-best among all 2026 NFL Draft-eligible tackles. Mauigoa has some rumblings concerning a back issue, and as with Bain we’ll see if something off-the-field causes him to drop at all.

Mesidor also shouldn’t be overlooked as he should go tonight as well. He was a Sporting News second team All-American in 2025 and a finalist for the Ted Hendricks Award. He led Miami and ranked among the nation’s leaders with 17.5 tackles for loss and 12.5 sacks in his final season (his sixth year of eligibility) and had a career-high 63 total tackles (38 solo), which ranked sixth at Miami.

Whichever teams pick these Canes early sure seem to have future pro stars on their hands.

So tune in tonight, with coverage starting at 8 p.m. on ESPN (rounds 2-3 are Friday starting at 7 p.m., and rounds 4-7 start Saturday at Noon).