Pope sees freshmen receivers playing for the Florida Gators

Florida Gators head coach Jim McElwain and his entire staff have done a great job of getting in early on 2018 prospects and getting them on campus.

One of those 2018 prospects is receiver Mark Pope (6-0, 160, Miami, FL. Southridge) was on the Gators campus on Saturday and liked what he was able to see from his position group.

“I liked it, I loved it out there,” Pope said of the Florida atmosphere. “The fans, the coaches and the players were all good. I was really watching my position, seeing what the receivers were going to do. The receivers played real good.”

Pope has said in the past that he early playing time is important to him and he got to see the Gators play several true freshmen on Saturday.

“Seeing them, they had a lot of playing time being a freshmen and so did Antonio Callaway as a freshman,” he said of the young receivers playing a lot. “To me I think I have the talent to come in and play early too.”

Receivers coach Kerry Dixon has been recruiting Pope’s school and is tag teaming the recruitment of the 2018 receiver with another Gators coach.

“Coach Dixon is the main recruiter well kind of both [Randy Shannon and Dixon],” Pope said of Florida. “They’re telling me that they like me and stuff. They’re staying on me. They’re saying that I’m going to come in play and fight for a starting position. That’s really it.”

A few months ago Pope named a top two of Florida and Alabama but he now says that those schools are high up there but he just isn’t sure in his recruitment.

“Everything is just opened up right now, so I don’t really know,” he said of any leaders. “Alabama is still up there, Florida and Alabama are still there. Everything else is, well it’s just hard. They’re really my top two but it’s really hard, I don’t know.”

The 2018 receiver is trying to play make plans to see both of his top schools this fall.

“I’m going to try and catch a game at Alabama,” Pope said. “I’m going to try and get back up to Florida for the LSU game too.”

Pope has two of his teammates in Shawn Davis and Kemore Gamble already committed to the Gators and they’re in the ear of the receiver.

“They’re telling me to play on the same team with them,” he said of Gamble and Davis recruiting him. “They’re like brothers to me. Going against Shawn in practice, we’re making each other better. So it’s like why not come and play with my brothers again.

 

INSIDERS TAKE: Pope is one of the top receivers in the state for 2018 and the Gators have made him a priority early on. The Gators and Alabama have been the two teams on top and it still seems that way now.

Andrew Spivey
Andrew always knew he wanted to be involved with sports in some capacity. He began by coaching high school football for six years before deciding to pursue a career in journalism. While coaching, he was a part of two state semifinal teams in the state of Alabama. Given his past coaching experience, he figured covering recruiting would be a perfect fit. He began his career as an intern for Rivals.com, covering University of Florida football recruiting. After interning with Rivals for six months, he joined the Gator Country family as a recruiting analyst. Andrew enjoys spending his free time on the golf course and watching his beloved Atlanta Braves. Follow him on Twitter at @AndrewSpiveyGC.