Omar Bolden (born December 20, 1988) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly di ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

for

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

and was drafted by the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...

in the fourth round of the

2012 NFL Draft The 2012 NFL draft was the 77th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players for their rosters. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held ...

High school career

Bolden attended Colony High School in

Ontario, California Ontario is a city in southwestern San Bernardino County in the U.S. state of California, east of downtown Los Angeles and west of downtown San Bernardino, the county seat. Located in the western part of the Inland Empire metropolitan area, ...

, where he starred at

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

and defensive back. As a senior, he ran for 2,003 yards (143.1 yards per game) and 26 touchdowns and amassed over 2,500 all-purpose yards. On defense, he totaled 80 tackles, two blocked punts and one interception. Bolden was named

CIF Cif is a French brand of household cleaning products owned by the Anglo-Dutch company Unilever, known as Jif in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Middle East and the Nordic countries. Cif was launched in France in 1965 and was marketed in competit ...

Central Division Most Valuable Player and the Inland Valley Player of the Year after leading Colony to its first CIF title in 2006. Bolden was first brought up to Varsity as a Freshman against Ontario High School to play running back. This game was played at Chaparral high school due to a massive fire that prevented any local games from being played. His first two carries of his high school career resulted in fumbles. Considered a four-star recruit by ''

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'', Bolden was listed as the No. 7 all-purpose back recruit in the nation. He ran a 4.35

40-yard dash The 40-yard dash is a sprint covering . It is primarily run to evaluate the speed and acceleration of American football players by scouts, particularly for the NFL Draft but also for collegiate recruiting. A player's recorded time can have a h ...

at the 2006 ''

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'' Los Angeles Combine, the fastest by any player at the camp and the fourth-fastest among participants at ''Scout.com′s'' 13 nationwide high school combines throughout the year. Bolden chose Arizona State over

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

and received several other offers, from schools including

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

and

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College career

As a

true freshman Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

in 2007, Bolden played in all 13 games, making nine starts for the Sun Devils. He recorded 33 tackles (24 solo), six pass break-ups, and one interception, which he returned for a touchdown, on the season. He earned First-team Freshman All-American honors by the '' Football Writers Association of America'', as well as Second-team Freshman All-American honors by ''Rivals.com'' and ''

College Football News ''College Football News'' (''CFN'') is a magazine and website published by College Football News, Inc., headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. News coverage includes scores, statistics, rankings, and reports on college football games. Analysis includ ...

''. In his sophomore season, Bolden started all 12 games at cornerback and finished fifth on the team with 49 tackles (37 solo). He totaled seven pass break-ups and two interceptions on the season. Bolden received Honorable Mention Sophomore All-American by ''College Football News'' that year.

Professional career

Denver Broncos

Bolden was considered one of the top

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

prospects of his class. He was selected by the

in the 4th round with the 101st overall pick of the

. On November 8, 2015, Bolden returned a punt for a touchdown, but the Broncos lost 27–24 to the Indianapolis Colts. On February 7, 2016, Bolden was part of the Broncos team that won

Super Bowl 50 Super Bowl 50 was an American football game to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2015 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos defeated the National Football Conference (NFC) cha ...

. In the game, the Broncos defeated the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. ...

by a score of 24–10. Bolden did not play in the game because he was on injured reserve. 's NFL offseason, Bolden holds at least two Broncos franchise records, including: * Yds/KR: season (33.0 in 2014) * Yds/PR: season (24.6 in 2015)

Chicago Bears

Bolden signed with the Chicago Bears on March 31, 2016, and was cut one week before training camp on July 22, 2016.Bears ink Omar Bolden to 1-year deal
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Retirement

On October 20, 2017, Bolden retired from the NFL.

References

External links

Denver Broncos bioArizona State Sun Devils bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bolden, Omar 1988 births Living people 21st-century American male actors African-American male actors American football cornerbacks American football safeties Arizona State Sun Devils football players Chicago Bears players Denver Broncos players People from Ontario, California Players of American football from California Sportspeople from San Bernardino County, California 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people