Late on Wednesday night, Southern Cal safety Bubba Bolden announced his commitment to transfer to the University of Miami.

Co-DC/Safeties coach Ephraim Banda seems pleased by this news.

Bolden was everybody’s All-American in High School. He made 2016 Parade All-American first team, Prep Star All-American Dream Team, Max Preps All-American first team, Tacoma News Tribune Western 100, Orange County Register Fab 15 first team, USA Today All-Nevada Defensive Player of the Year, Las Vegas Review-Journal All-State first team and All-Southwest League as a senior. That’s good. Damn good.

Starring at Las Vegas (NV) Bishop Gorman, Bolden was the #7 Safety, the #3 player in the State of Nevada, and the #59 player overall in the class of 2017.

If the name of the HS is familiar, it should be: Canes starting TE Brevin Jordan played with Bolden at Bishop Gorman before signing with Miami in the class of 2018.

At 6’3” 201lbs, Bishop is a prototypical Safety. He has all the physical skills in the world, and will look to continue his development and increase his on-field impact in Miami.

Bolden’s career has not been without incident. After playing in 5 games as a freshman in 2017, Bolden was slated for a huge role on USC’s team in 2018. After earning a starting job in USC’s secondary, Bolden left the team and was removed from USC’s roster. Bolden later told the Los Angeles Times that he had violated the student code of conduct by underage drinking at a party and having an altercation, and that violation is the reason he left the Trojans’ program.

Bolden went on to detail the following, according to the Times

USC’s office of Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards (SJACS) “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.”

Obviously, Bolden will have to get things together and not have a code of conduct violation such as the one that caused him to withdraw from USC, but kids grow up, and Bolden is coming to Miami for a chance to continue his athletic career and move forward.

For Miami, this is big. The Canes’ secondary obviously needs additional talent, and getting a player of Bolden’s caliber is massive. He was slated to start for USC as a sophomore, has the build and physical skills of a top end talent, and under the watchful eye and tutelage of Safety coach Ephraim Banda, Bolden looks to take his game to a new level similar to what Adrian Colbert did at Miami a couple years ago.

Obviously, the hope is that the violation of team and University rules is in the past, and Bolden is able to reunite with his HS teammate Jordan in Coral Gables and use his prodigious athletic talent to help Miami win games.

According to Andrew Ivins of 247sports, this move has been in the works for a while. Bolden is currently enrolled at a junior college, but did not participate in football in 2018. Furthermore, according to Josh White of The Miami Hurricane, UM’s student paper, Bolden will likely transfer to Miami in the spring, and be immediately eligible to compete with 3 years of eligibility remaining.

For a look at Bolden on the field, here are his HS highlights.

Bolden is the 2nd Bubba with an alliterative name on Miami’s roster. He joins starting K Bubba Baxa on that exclusive list.

Welcome to the U, Bubba!