What should have been one of the best moments of Bubba Bolden's season will, unfortunately, be his last for 2019. The safety for Miami (FL) is out for the season after suffering an ankle injury in Saturday's 27-10 win over Florida State. "We will not have Bubba for the rest of the year,'' coach Manny Diaz said Monday, via Susan Miller Dengan of the Miami Herald.
However, this was not your garden variety injury. Bolden came down awkwardly on his ankle while he was celebrating his first interception of the season in the third quarter of the game. Bolden picked off Seminoles quarterback Alex Hornibrook and proceeded to do a chest bump with fellow safety Gurvan Hall. That's when things went quickly awry. You can see the interception and the moment Bolden injures his ankle (albeit briefly) below:
Bubba Bolden comes out of nowhere for the pick!#ItsAllAboutTheU #MustSeeACC | @CanesFootball @BubbBolden pic.twitter.com/WmlP7LghHx
— ACC Digital Network (@theACCDN) November 2, 2019
After the game, Diaz was clearly disappointed in how unlucky the injury was.
"You hate to see things like that happen. It's just unlucky," Diaz told WQAM's Joe Rose. "But guys are enthusiastic. You want guys to be excited for their teammate. Gurvan and Bubba in essence play the same position. At times they're battling for playing time on the field and to see the two of them celebrate together like that is really what you want to see as a coach. You don't want to see a guy limping off after that."
Bolden originally committed to USC in 2017 before transferring to Miami. He sat out the 2018 season and had 11 tackles plus a pass deflection this year.