Buford (Ga.) High School head coach Bryant Appling begs Jake Pope not to dive during practice. It’s not that he doesn’t appreciate seeing his star player giving full effort, he just can’t afford to lose him for Friday nights. Nevertheless, the request generally falls on deaf ears as Pope only knows one speed on the football field.
“Whether it’s the first rep of the walkthrough or the middle of a game, he’s diving on the ground going all out,” Appling said. “He’s just that guy. I’m yelling at him all the time like, ‘don’t dive, it’s just a walkthrough.’ It doesn’t matter. He just wants to catch every ball and do everything the right way.”
Pope can’t afford to take a play off. He still has too much to prove. Despite a standout junior season in Georgia's competitive 6A division, Pope has yet to receive the blue-chip recognition his stats warrant. Instead, the only chip the 6-foot-1, 190-pound athlete carries sits on his shoulders every time he steps between the white lines.
“He wants to prove everybody wrong,” Appling said. “He wants to prove that he belongs on the field at any given time. He brings that work ethic to practice every day, and it shows up on Friday nights for us.”
Monday, Pope announced he'll be bringing that drive to Alabama as he committed to the Crimson Tide over Georgia, North Carolina, Notre Dame and Ohio State. The three-star athlete is Alabama’s 14th commit in the 2022 class and the seventh player to pledge to the Tide since the beginning of July.
According to Appling, Nick Saban and company are getting a perfect fit.
“Jake is a very smart player, and as smart as he is, he’s just as athletic and fast,” Appling said. “He checks all the boxes. We use him on special teams a lot. We use him on offense and defense. I think he’ll have no problem going to college and playing SEC football.”
Pope has been a jack-of-all-trades during his time at Buford. Last season, he recorded 60 tackles including six for a loss. He also pulled in seven touchdown receptions and tallied more than 400 yards as a kick returner while leading the Bulldogs to a 13-1 record en route to the state title.
Alabama figures to use that talent on the defensive side of the ball where Pope's versatility and in-game recognition make him the ideal fit for Saban’s secondary.
“I think he can definitely play either the Star or safety position for them,” Appling said. “I remember the days when Dillon Lee was coming through Buford, and Kirby [Smart] and Nick were recruiting him at Alabama. I remember they had the guys like [Vinnie] Sunseri in that defense. Jake reminds me of that guy in the way he plays.”
Appling said Buford’s current defense was inspired by Saban’s setup at Alabama, stating that he thinks Pope “fits the scheme to a T.” While the Tide might seem like the obvious choice at the moment, growing up the playmaker seemed destined for a different perennial contender.
Pope’s father, Brad, played safety alongside eventual NFL Hall of Famer Brian Dawkins in Clemson’s secondary during the mid-1990s. He’s still good friends with Tigers quarterbacks coach, Brandon Streeter, who he played with on the 1996 team.
Naturally, Jake’s Saturdays growing up were spent cheering Clemson either on television or during frequent trips to Memorial Stadium. To this day, Death Valley is still the only college stadium he’s visited for a game.
“He grew up a Clemson Tiger,” Brad said. “We tried to get to one or two games a year. I got to take him up for some camps, and we had some private practices because I had some friends up there. We were up there a good bit.”
Brad admits he’s dreamed of seeing Jake play in purple and orange. The only problem was that Clemson never came calling. Jake currently holds three dozen offers from top programs around the nation, but his father’s alma mater has yet to throw its hat into the ring.
“We anticipated an offer from Clemson early on,” Brad said. “They were recruiting him very high. Mickey Conn went down to Buford several times. Brent Venables went down to Buford specifically to see Jake. They said he was the No. 1 guy on their board for quite a while, and then they just kind of faded out."
Brad said he and his son have no ill will toward Clemson, stating that he knows that college football recruiting can often be a numbers game. The Tigers are already well-stocked at safety and currently have four defensive backs committed in next year’s class.
“It just wasn’t God’s plan for Clemson to offer,” Brad said. “All Jake can control is his work on and off the field and what he puts into. Good things are going to happen regardless. If it’s not in God’s plan for him to be a Tiger, then we’re going to have to play with a team that’s going to beat the Clemson Tigers.”
Brad is a speed and strength coach and has been working with Jake since the third grade. He remembers chuckling a bit when Notre Dame sent Jake a series of drills to perform before offering him last August.
“I turned to him and was like, ‘Jake, you’ve been doing all this since you were like eight,’” he recalled.
While the two have a bit more time before Jake ships off to college, Brad feels completely comfortable with the coaching his son will receive in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
“Nick Saban’s the best in the business. They don’t call him the GOAT for nothing,” Brad said. “He’ll probably go down as the winningest coach in college football. To have him working with Jake hand-and-hand in the secondary is tremendous. Charles Kelly is a tremendous coach as well. He’s been integral in Jake’s recruitment. To have those two guys and, of course, Pete Golding is absolutely tremendous.”
At the moment, it isn’t certain whether Jake will enroll early at Alabama in January or wait to join the Tide next summer. The two-sport athlete is also the starting center fielder for his high school and is still considering playing out his senior season in baseball this spring.
Regardless of how quickly he gets on campus, those who know him best expect him to hit the ground running at the only speed he knows.
"I think he's going to help out immediately," Appling said. "He's just an all-around player who's going to do anything you need from him and isn't afraid of competition. He checks all the boxes in a really high way."
National take
"What stands out to me most about Pope's game is that he's just a smart football player. He is always in the right spot, he can read and react quickly and at receiver he has shown to have more speed than sometimes he's given credit for. At safety, Pope can diagnose the play quickly and then he doesn't hesitate to come up and make a play. He's not going to level people since he's not overly physical but he's going to get them on the ground and rarely does he make a bad read or a mistake. As for his ranking, we did not see Pope anywhere this summer and so he could not move up or down. His senior season will be very important to see if we should move him one way or another in the coming months."- Rivals national recruiting analyst Adam Gorney
