Chandler Whitmer Wants No Credit For Bucs Drafting Rueben Bain
May 12th, 2026
Bucs QB coach Chandler Whitmer.
Outside of the Bucs hiring Miami coach Mario Cristobal or Hurricanes defensive line coach Jason Taylor, no one knows first-hand what sort of gamewrecker Bucs defensive lineman Rueben Bain is than Bucs new quarterbacks coach Chandler Whitmer.
How is that? Well, last year Whitmer was Indiana’s co-offensive coordinator. And in the national championship game, Bain wrecked his gameplan.
(But Whitmer found a way to get the job done — helps to have had the best quarterback in college football — and Indiana beat Miami for the national title.)
So Joe asked Whitmer if Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht or anyone on Licht’s staff had a sitdown with Whitmer when the Bucs were doing their draft research.
Whitmer said, yes, he talked to his colleagues in personnel about Bain. But Whitmer stopped Joe and basically said there was plenty of available intel on Bain and the Bucs didn’t make up their minds from anything Whitmer may have told them.
“There was some conversations,” Whitmer said. “Not as much about the gameplan of it, but just what we thought of him as a player [and] scouting [Bain] throughout the preparation for the national championship.
“But again, [Licht] didn’t need to hear it from me. You can see it. The tape speaks for itself. The guy’s a phenomenal player.”
Whitmer wasn’t the only Bucs coach who had to face Bain. Though Bain has only had two rookie minicamp practices, Bucs offensive line coach Kevin Carberry had to get mostly UDFAs last weekend to try to slow Bain down in underwear football.
Color Carberry impressed. He said even in underwear football, he can tell just how explosive Bain is off the snap.