Safety Bolden playing lights out, eyes Pitt next
Miami Hurricanes safety Bubba Bolden has been an exceptional force on the UM defense this season. The USC transfer had a huge Clemson game and wants Pitt next.
Did you see the Hurricane with blood continually trickling down his face in the Clemson game?
He’s the one who was everywhere — blocking two field goals, forcing a fumble with his shoulder during a ferocious tackle of future first-round draft pick Trevor Lawrence and passionately, desperately screaming encouragement to his teammates to keep fighting.
University of Miami safety Bubba Bolden resembled a prize fighter, his ring being the football field, his mantra being to “keep playing fast, keep playing hard, keep playing physical, run to the ball and tackle.’’
“That’s what we live by,’’ Bolden, a 6-3, 200-pound redshirt junior, said immediately after No. 1 Clemson dominated then-No. 7 UM (3-1, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) last Saturday night. “We’re focused on Pitt. A lot of emotions. No one likes to lose, especially not me. I’m not a loser.’’
The former USC Trojan and first-team Parade All-American, who transferred to UM last year, has certainly proven he’s a winner in his first full season on the field for the Hurricanes. As UM prepares to face Pittsburgh (3-2, 2-2) at noon Saturday (ACC Network) at Hard Rock Stadium, Bolden vowed again Wednesday to take that same intensity against a Panthers team that lost its last two games by one
point.
‘NEVER BACK DOWN’
“When you love a game so much, when you love something that you do and it’s your job, you’re going to give it your all,’’ said Bolden, who leads UM with 27 tackles and has three forced fumbles, two blocked kicks, an interception, sack, three tackles for loss and a pass breakup in four games. “I’ve never been one to quit. I’ve never been one to back down from any fights. You just gotta have that mentality. I’m pretty sure our whole team has that, not only me.’’
Bolden was named ACC Defensive Back of the
Week this week, two games after earning the same honor, as well as the Thorpe Award Player of the Week on the heels of a forced fumble and 11 tackles at Louisville. He would have gotten a much earlier start on his wizardry had he not sustained a seasonending, surgery-requiring ankle injury last year during an awkward chest bump in celebration of his first UM pick.
After Bolden’s exceptional game in UM’s win at Louisville, coach Manny Diaz was taken aback to receive a text message from the safety that said he “played poorly’’ and wanted the coach to know he was “going to play a lot better.’’
Indeed, he keeps delivering. Bolden played nearly 90 snaps at Clemson, “which is probably a game and a half,’’ Diaz said. “He still starts on our punt team. He’s still sprinting down to cover punts. He’s a guy who is completely committed for the team.”
QUICK THINKING
Following fellow safety Amari Carter’s ejection at Clemson for targeting, Diaz said a play “right before the blocked field goal for the [UM] touchdown’’ demonstrated Bolden’s leadership and resulted in his getting the first hit on Lawrence during a quarterback draw.
“Bubba was supposed to be deep,’’ Diaz said, but Carter’s replacement, true freshman Brian Balom, “was a little confused, so Bubba just kind of told him, ‘I’ll go. You just play deep middle.’ So just having that guy with a calm head back there [to] sort things out, not just making himself better, but making the players around him better is just one little glimpse of his impact on the team.’’
If Bolden was tired, he didn’t show it.
“Overall there was a lot of adrenaline going into the game,’’ Bolden said, “so I don’t think tiredness was anywhere in my head. I knew I had to step up when Amari went down — you got a young freshman coming into the game. You gotta go out there and lead. I didn’t let the fatigue get to me at all.”
Bolden, who played with UM starting tight end Brevin Jordan at Las Vegas Bishop Gorman High School (as well as with now opted-out quarterback Tate Martell), said he knew “there would be a lot of competitiveness” at UM when he made his decision to transfer. “You see the U all over the place growing up,’’ he said. “You see what it’s about. You don’t actually really know what it’s about until you get here. Once I got here I seen how it was ... people getting after it. That helped me grow. That helped the team grow.’’
OWNING THE LOSS
Bolden, as well as quarterback D’Eriq King, said the Tuesday and Wednesday practices were strong indications that the Hurricanes are owning Saturday’s loss.
“There’s a lot of player accountability,’’ he said. “You mess up on something and a player is going to call it out. You’re not running hard enough, a player is going to call it out. We even went to the coach and said, ‘Coach, don’t blow the whistle so fast. We can run to the ball.’ ’’
Another UM defensive stalwart from out west, defensive end transfer Jaelan Phillips, said he’s known Bolden since “we were 15 years old back in high school.’’
“He’s always been just a different breed,’’ Phillips said. “He has that dog mentality that you really can’t teach. If you just turn on the tape you’re going to see No. 21 flying all over the field.
“Definitely inspires his teammates, inspires me for sure. I’m really not surprised to see Bubba playing like this. I’ve known for a long time he’s a legitimate generational talent.’’
Diaz said tight end Jordan (shoulder, upper body) is questionable for Pitt.