in college, boulware played for the florida seminoles. he had success and was known for being a good sack artist. boulware accepted an athletic scholarship to florida state university, where he played for coach bobby bowden's florida state seminoles football team from 1993 to 1996. he redshirted his freshman season in 1993; as a redshirt freshman in 1994, he recorded 37 tackles, five sacks, and five tackles for loss. one of his sacks was recorded against florida gators quarterback danny wuerffel in the 1995 sugar bowl.