Miami Hurricanes defensive back Bubba Bolden was all over the field Saturday night against the Louisville Cardinals offense.
Bolden had his highest tackling game (11 total) as a Hurricane and displayed great range while covering space, something that’s heavily required when playing an offense like Louisville’s.
Head coach Manny Diaz came away speaking highly of Bolden following Miami’s 47-34 victory.
“On every play there is a motion adjustment and they do a good job with their zone blocking schemes and you have to make some big tackles and also you have to cover the most explosive receiver in the ACC at times,” Diaz said.
“It was great to have Bubba play so well.”
When matched up in coverage, Bolden did give up a few catches and one touchdown on a rollout play to Cardinals receiver Tutu Atwell Jr,. Albeit, Atwell, a Miami Northwestern alum, would be a tough matchup for any defensive back in the country.
Bubba played great in space and made several key stops on the night for the Hurricanes. In once sequence of plays shown in the video below, he stops the speedy Atwell on a flat route on the left side. Then, on the very next play he picks up a running back coming out of the flat and makes a huge stop on third down.
Miami held the Cardinals to 0 of 6 on 3rd down conversions and 0 of 2 on 4th down attempts in the first half. Bolden’s range and great angles to the ball carrier helped the Canes’ defense accomplish this feat.
Look to see more of Bubba making plays as the defense gets more comfortable with one another and the season progresses. In a modern game where teams often have three safeties rotate, we’ll see him on the field a lot. I expect him to emerge as a leader on the back end with his big body and range.
