Six days to Miami football: WR Mark Pope 2018 Preview
Freshman Mark Pope is the highest rated wide receiver and fourth highest ranked player in the 2018 Miami Football Freshmen class. Pope was rated four-stars and the 67th ranked player, the 11th ranked wide receiver and 13th ranked player in Florida in the Class of 2018.
Pope is part of a deep group of wide receivers the Miami Football program signed in their most recent recruiting class. He was a four-star recruit by the 247 Composite rankings listed above. Rivals.Com gave Pope five-stars. That made him one of two Hurricanes five-star signees for 2018. Running back Lorenzo Lingard was the other.
Pope is joined in the Miami stable of Freshmen wide receivers by fellow four-star signees Brian Hightower and Marquez Ezzard and three-star Dee Wiggins. All four give the Hurricanes excellent height. Each other them stands 6’1 or above. Pope and Wiggins were high school teammates at Miami Southridge High School.
Pope and Ezzard arrived in Coral Gables later than Hightower and Wiggins. Hightower took advantage of that by thriving in the Miami Spring game. He has four receptions for 100 yards and two touchdowns.
Live Feed
With the First Pick
The Freshmen are behind a talented and deep group of veteran wide receivers on the Miami roster. Ahmmon Richards will be Miami’s number one wide receiver in 2018 if he can stay healthy. After a breakout Freshman season in 2016, Richards missed six games in 2017. That included the last two games after knee surgery.
Sophomore Jeff Thomas is the likely starter opposite Richards. Lawrence Cager is currently expected to be the number three wide receiver. Backing them up will be 2017 hero, Senior Darrell Langham, Sophomore Mike Harley and Redshirt Freshman Evidence Njoku.
Adding to the prospects in the passing game are Freshman tight ends Brevin Jordan and Will Mallory. Both are good enough athletes to split out wide off the line of scrimmage as a receiver.
High school recruiting expert Daniel Gould gave an analysis of Pope in the Palm Beach Post after he enrolled at Miami in May.
"“Has everything you want athletically for a receiver. Speed, quickness, vertical are all huge positives…Dynamic after the catch…Goes up for the ball and makes plays of a much taller receiver. Not afraid to make catches over the middle in traffic.”"
Gould rated Pope as a nine on his five to ten scale. A player with a ranking of nine according to Gould’s rankings is defined as “upper-tier four-star, All-ACC caliber.”
Next. Five reasons Miami football will be better than FSU in 2018. dark
Last week Miami Wide Receivers Coach Ron Dugans said that Pope, Hightower and Wiggins all have a chance to play in the season opener against LSU. Ezzard still has work to do to get on the field.