Inside: Ex-USC safety to transfer to UM,

Bolden announces transfer from USC, able to play 3 years

CORAL GABLES — Since taking over as the Miami Hurricanes’ new coach, Manny Diaz has made it clear one of his top priorities is recruiting topnotch players, whether they’re high school prospects or college transfers.

And late Wednesday night — with Diaz and his staff preparing to begin a second major recruiting push ahead of National Signing Day on Feb. 6 — Miami’s roster got a boost with the announcement from former USC safety Bubba Bolden that he was transferring to Miami.

Bolden, a high school teammate of Hurricanes’ tight end Brevin Jordan, took to Twitter to post a photo of himself in a Miami uniform that read “Committed” at the bottom. He simply wrote, “Blessed. Let’s get it” and tagged Jordan in the post.

Jordan acknowledged Bolden’s post, as did several members of Miami’s coaching staff, including safeties coach Ephraim Banda, who tweeted a picture of himself excitedly jumping on the Miami sideline with the message, “Me right now in my living room with my baby girl asleep in the back. … #86GangGotBetter.”

Bolden was a four-star prospect and U.S. Army AllAmerican coming out of Las Vegas’ Bishop Gorman High in 2017. Rated the No. 7 safety prospect in the nation by 247Sports.com that year, he signed with USC, appearing in 13 games as a freshman and was widely expected to be a starter in 2018.

Instead, though, he missed USC’s opener and Bolden himself later posted on his Instagram account that he’d been given a 28-month suspension from USC, according to the Los Angeles Times.

In his post, Bolden said USC’s office of Student Judicial Affairs and Community standards “believes that I am responsible for violating the student code of conduct pertaining to underage drinking at an off-campus party back in February 2018 wherein I participated in mutual trash-talking with fellow partygoers. As the vibe at the party turned unfriendly, I left with several friends. Approximately nine days afterward, the party hosts reported feeling threatened by me that night, which sparked a USC SJACS investigation.”

But Bolden, who left the school in October, was reportedly reinstated by USC on Dec. 31 and could have enrolled in classes this week. Instead, Bolden has seemingly opted for a fresh start at Miami alongside his friend and former teammate, Jordan.

The safety will, according to 247Sports, be eligible to play three years at Miami after he graduates this spring.

The Hurricanes, who were 7-6 last season, lost their two starting safeties — Jaquan Johnson and Sheldrick Redwine — to graduation.