Bubba Bolden’s Miami Hurricanes role depends on what he can process

The role of USC transfer Bubba Bolden will depend on how quickly he can process the Miami Hurricanes defense. What Bolden can learn will determine what role he plays on the Miami football team according to head coach Manny Diaz.

The Miami Hurricanes are deep at safety. The addition of Bubba Bolden was a huge addition to the talent and depth at the position for the Miami football team. Miami head coach Manny Diaz said that Bolden’s role depends on what he can process and learn in terms of what role he will play.

Sophomore Gurvan Hall and junior Amari Carter have been the first team safeties throughout training camp. Senior Robert Knowles and junior Derrick Smith have backed up Carter and Hall as the second-team safeties. Fitting into that rotation for Bolden will be difficult early.

Bolden will find a place in the rotation eventually if not right away. He has excellent size at 6’3, 200 pounds. Bolden was the 11th ranked safety in the Class of 2017 by ESPN. He had eight tackles as a freshman at USC in 2017. He was suspended from school and missed the 2018 season. Bolden gets a new start at Miami.

Bolden fits Manny Diaz’s mantra of The New Miami. The redshirt sophomore is one of eight transfers new to the Miami football program for 2019. No one embraced the transfer portal as much as the Miami Hurricanes did in the 2019 offseason. Diaz spoke about what to expect with Bolden.

"“It really depends on Bubba in terms of what can he process, what can he learn in terms of what kind of role he can play. Obviously he’s got to get into the competition. We’ve got a lot of guys competing for spots so whether he factors in at safety or factors in on sub-defense as a nickel or dime or who knows what.It’s really what in terms he can handle, what he understands. He’s been a guy that’s been in games so he has some understanding of all of that type of stuff. It’s fun to have him out there and I think tomorrow will be his first day he’s got some shoulder pads on–obviously he can’t scrimmage with that.”"

Bolden is a huge addition to the Miami football program. He will need time to learn the defense. The four safeties currently ahead of Bolden on the Miami Hurricanes depth chart average two years in the program. That is a lot for Bolden to catch up on quickly to get up to speed and earn playing time.

Bolden is far too much of a talent to solely be used on special teams. Depending on how the safeties ahead of him play against Florida in two weeks, Miami could bring Bolden along slowly this season. By the time the Hurricanes play Bethune-Cookman in the home opener September 14, expect Bolden to receive a lot of playing time.