WR Pope’s early start is ‘50-50’

HIALEAH Miami Hurricanes-signee Mark Pope, a five-star wide receiver, said his early enrollment status at UM is “50-50” at the Florida Fire 7-on-7 tryout on Sunday night.

Pope, a U.S. Army AllAmerican out of Miami Southridge, said if he is able to enroll in classes for the spring semester, he is aiming for a Jan. 22 arrival on the campus. The deadline would be Jan. 24.

If he doesn’t make it early, like nine other members of the Hurricanes’ top-10 2018 recruiting class are expected, a May arrival on campus after high school graduation seems likely.

“Getting the playbook, that’ll make me play more,” Pope said. “I feel like I’ll play early if I get the playbook.”

Pope, who formerly played on the Florida Fire 7-on-7 team and was on hand to watch the new crop of prospects participate, added that another benefit of possibly enrolling early would be the chance to be around Miami’s quarterbacks in incumbent starter Malik Rosier, freshman N’Kosi Perry and fellow 2018 recruit Jarren Williams.

“That’s who I really want to be a roommate with — with a quarterback,” Pope said. “So all of us can just go over the playbook and it makes it a lot easier for me.”

Aside from Williams, others in the 2018 class expected to enroll early include running back Lorenzo Lingard, Pope’s high school teammate at receiver in Daquris Wiggins, fellow wide-out Brian Hightower, linemen John Campbell and Delone Scaife and DBs Gurvan Hall, D.J. Ivey and Gilbert Frierson.