Two former national stars about to play for Miami Hurricanes, with another in question

University of Miami football coach Manny Diaz delivered uplifting news Monday, two days after the Hurricanes’ 63-0 blowout of the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats.

Diaz told WQAM that former five-star running back Lorenzo Lingard should be ready to play Saturday against Central Michigan in a 4 p.m. kickoff at Hard Rock Stadium.

He also said that safety Bubba Bolden, a former Parade All-American who first played with the Southern Cal Trojans, has been cleared by the NCAA to play against Virginia Tech at home on Oct. 5.

Lingard “got banged up in practice on Wednesday,’’ Diaz said. “It just forced him to miss the game this [past] weekend. By all accounts he should be good to go for Central Michigan.

“But it’s a shame, we really wanted to see him play’’ against the Wildcats.

The 6-0, 202-pound Lingard, out of Orange City University High, sustained a left knee injury in practice last October after he had played in six games. Playing time had been sparse for Lingard, whom the 247Sports.com composite rankings pegged as the No. 2 running back in the Class of 2018. He had been stuck behind veteran Travis Homer, now in the NFL, and current top tailback DeeJay Dallas.

Lingard rushed 17 times for 136 yards with two touchdowns last season, averaging 8 yards a carry.

“That’s me and Cam’s boy,’’ Dallas said last week of Lingard. “We just always tell Lo, ‘Lo, it’s going to come.’ I tell him all the time, ‘It’s going to pop. When your number is called, bro, you’re going to go ballistic.’ I tell him all the time, ‘Just stay faithful, bro. Just stay faithful.’’’

As for Bolden, the Hurricanes need him badly.

“Bubba will be back for the Virginia Tech game,’’ Diaz told WQAM. “We found that out I think the day before we went to North Carolina. So, he becomes eligible and all things are good to go for the game against Virginia Tech. So this is his last game he’ll miss.”

Bolden arrived at UM in early August. The 6-3, 200-pound redshirt sophomore, who wears No. 21, is healthy and has practiced but has been unable to play because of NCAA transfer protocal. He formerly played at Las Vegas Bishop Gorman High with Canes quarterback/receiver Tate Martell and tight end Brevin Jordan. He spent the 2017 season at USC (13 games, eight tackles) and then attended a junior college.

Bolden was rated the nation’s seventh-best safety by Rivals for the recruiting class of 2017, and 61st-best overall athlete. He was also a Max Preps first-team All-American and USA Today All-Nevada Defensive Player of the Year. Bolden had 27 tackles, five tackles for loss, one sack, seven interceptions (one touchdown return), one fumble recovery returned for a touchdown and one blocked field goal as Bishop Gorman won its eighth consecutive state title in 2016 and third straight USA Today national championship.

“He’s a very talented guy,’’ Diaz said Monday of Bolden. “He’s actually had a chance to be able to learn our system and we’ve kind of been able to get him ready sort of behind closed doors. We obviously need depth in our secondary. We’re very thin at safety. We’re thin at corner. Just to get another guy in there.

“And it’s not even just in terms of playing on defense. You can see it in a game like the one we had this past Saturday. I mean special teams, the reps. There are only so many guys you can put in the game, so to have a guy of Bubba’s talent and a guy that has been in some games will really help us out as we get in the conference schedule.’’

But Diaz on Monday was not specific about Canes receiver Mark Pope, who injured what appeared to be his left foot/ankle after a breakout performance Saturday with 92 receiving yards and a 21-yard rush.

“The foot deal — we’ll find a little bit more as the week goes on,’’ Diaz said to WQAM of Pope, a former five-star Miami Southridge High recruit. “Hopefully [it’s] not too bad. This is the day and the game we’ve been waiting on. The guy has been getting better and better. You see his ability.

“We had some things in the first couple games where it just didn’t sort of happen with him. And that’s all part of it. I thought [offensive coordinator] Dan Enos did a great job on that first play of the second series of isolating him one-on-one on a post, and then we hit him on a post corner. Just an outstanding route. And even the play he got hurt on on the wide receiver sweep where he just looked so dynamic with the ball.

“Mark is learning. Taylor Stubblefield, our wide receivers coach, has done a great job working with him one-on-one. He’s still got a lot of ball ahead of him. It’s just fun to see a guy like that finally get into the game and to start to have some success and see the game start to come to him. Hopefully that’s just a sign of things to come.”

The Hurricanes are off from practice Monday, but Manny Diaz will have his usual afternoon new conference.

This story was originally published September 16, 2019 at 8:09 AM.