Yahoo Finance Miami was supposed to have multiple high draft picks. They’ve been part of UM’s struggles
Bubba Bolden hears it all the time and, to an extent, he understands why.
“Everybody looks at it like, Oh, Bubba, you should be playing how you played the first half of [last] season,” the safety said Wednesday. “I feel like I’m playing good.”
The Miami Hurricanes clearly do, too — Bolden has played more snaps than anyone else on defense — but his play, at least in the mind of outside evaluators, has not been up to the standard he set last season, when he was a second-team all-Atlantic Coast Conference selection.
Bolden, who had his name mentioned as a potential first-round pick in several way-too-early mock drafts for 2022, has fallen off the Day 1 radar as his play, according to Pro Football Focus, has not graded out well and his raw counting stats have been underwhelming.
Bolden’s play is part of a larger issue for Miami, which will try to snap a two-game losing streak Saturday at 7:30 p.m. when it hosts the No. 18 North Carolina State Wolfpack at Hard Rock Stadium. The Hurricanes (2-4, 0-2) didn’t begin the year with many players expected to go early in the 2022 NFL Draft and those few who were have mostly had disappointing seasons.
Bolden has missed 10 tackles, according to Pro Football Focus, and has just 2 1/2 tackles for loss, no sacks, two passes defended, no interceptions and one forced fumble. Offensive lineman Zion Nelson, whose raw size and athleticism made him a trendy pick as the potential top tackle in the 2022 Draft, missed time in training camp with a knee injury and hasn’t taken an obvious leap forward in his third year as a starter. Even fringe candidates, like cornerback Tyrique Stevenson, haven’t done enough to vault their way into clear Day 2 position.
In Mel Kiper Jr.’s most recent big board for ESPN last month, the Draft analyst didn’t rank any Miami players among his top 10 at any position. Both Bolden and Nelson know they need to play better in the second half of the year.
“To be honest,” Nelson said Wednesday, “I’d say right now it’s not up to the standard that I would like it to be.”
Said Bolden: “I want to improve every game. That’s the main thing. I never want to stay stagnant, I never want to regress, but one thing I really want is to get some interceptions. Hopefully, that ball comes my way or hopefully I can put myself in a better position to make a play.”
Breaking down Bubba Bolden’s season
Bolden said he feels part of the perception has come from opposing offenses game planning for him. At the start of the year, Bolden carried a reputation as the best player on the Hurricanes’ defense and it has meant fewer opportunities for the 6-foot-3, 204-pound redshirt junior. His 41 tackles barely have him on pace to surpass his 77 from last year, when the regular season was only 10 games because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the game-changing plays — sacks, tackles for loss, interceptions and fumbles — have almost entirely vanished.
Some of that can be written off to fewer opportunities, as opponents run their offense away from him. The problem is fewer opportunities magnify mistakes and Bolden’s 10 missed tackles are second most on the team. Defenses have figured out how to limit Bolden’s strengths while also highlighting his weaknesses.
“There’s been some situations where the ball hasn’t found Bubba,” coach Manny Diaz said Wednesday. “I know he wants to make more plays, but we talk about just being where you’re supposed to be and being responsible for your area of responsibility.”
Diaz also pointed to one intangible area. Bolden, he said, is Miami’s best communicator in the secondary, which is especially important these days with freshmen James Williams and Kamren Kinchens getting the vast majority of snaps at the other safety spot.
Breaking down Zion Nelson’s season
For a former three-star recruit and project, Nelson’s third season has been really solid. He has given up three sacks and 13 pressures, while starting all six games at left tackle and ranking as one of the Hurricanes’ top 10 players, according to Pro Football Focus.
For a potential first-round pick and NFL prospect, Nelson’s third season has been underwhelming. He doesn’t rank among the top 45 players in the country at his position, according to Pro Football Focus, and Miami ranks outside the top 40 in scoring, yardage and yards per play.
The good news for 6-5, 316-pound sophomore is he truly is getting better as the season goes on. He gave up just one pressure in the Hurricanes’ 45-42 loss to the North Carolina Tar Heels on Saturday as Miami scored its most points against an FBS opponent so far this season.
He had minor knee surgery in the preseason — a “scope,” he said — and he feels better now than he did when the season began.
“As the games have gone on, game after game I’m slowly getting to where I want to be,” Nelson said. “But I still have a lot of room.”
