‘Feeling like Mark Pope again,’ WR producing
Junior appears to be turning the corner after slow start
Miami Hurricanes junior receiver Mark Pope was struggling to see results through his first two-plus season sin college after being a five-star recruit in the 2018 class by Rivals out of Miami Southridge.
Now, it has come together quickly for Pope in recent weeks. He posted career highs in receptions (six) and yards (97), while scoring just his third touchdown at UM in Friday night’s 44-41 win at North Carolina State, reminding observers why he was so touted coming out of high school.
“I’m feeling confident, feeling back to normal, back to happy, feeling like Mark Pope again,” Pope said after Tuesday’s practice.
After Pope went without a catch in Miami’s loss at then-No. 1Clemson on Oct. 10, hehas since hauled in 14receptions for 191 yards, including a 17-yard touch down grab in the back corner of the end zone in Friday’s win.
The uptick in his performance has come along with senior wideout Michael Harley earning ACC Receiver of the Week honors after back-to-back games — and catching the winning score at N.C. State — and the reemergence of Dee Wiggins, also a junior out of Southridge like Pope.
It all coincides with Hurricanes coaches opening up competition at wide receiver in the week of practice between the home wins against Pittsburgh and Virginia. The trio knew they needed to step up their play or younger receivers could supplant them as starters.
“All three of us just came to an agreement — me, Mike and Wigs — came to an agreement and told each other, ‘We got to put this team on our back. We’re too good of players,’ ” Pope said. “We had to make a change, and that’s what we’ve been doing for the last two weeks.
“Our practice habits changed. We’re going hard every play. Tired, whatever it is, we’re going hard. Fighting through adversity, eventually, you’re going to strike, so we got to strike through that. We’ve just been holding each other accountable and doing what we got to do.”
Coach Manny Diaz was confident the receivers would make improvements as part of the process and their approach.
“What changes is you just do the same thing over and over again, and you just end up getting really good at it,” Diaz told 560-AM on Tuesday morning. “A few weeks ago, ‘Wow, these guys are not making plays. Let’s move on. Let’s get rid of these guys. Blah, blah, blah. Whatever.’ We’re going to run the same plays on offense. We’re going to learn howto run a deep ball— not just running fast; you got to learn how to win on your release; you got to learn howto stack a guy.”
Wiggins’ 39-yard first-quarter touchdown on Friday, in a game where he had seven receptions for 77 yards, was the prototypical example of that for Diaz.
“Dee Wiggins, it was a clinic tape, his touchdown,” Diaz said. “Not even the catch and the result, but theway hewon at the line, the way he stacks the DB so the DB ends up actually tripping because Dee’s got it in his jet stream andt he ball fades tohis outside shoulder. It was perfect. You just do it over and over and over again.”
The Miami receivers are starting to come down with contested catches that previously were being left on the field, even when quarterback D’Eriq King was throwing a catchable ball down the field.
Pope said repetition during practice with 100 catches in everyway a ball can be caught, whether it be straight on off a Jugs machine or over the shoulder, etc., has marked the difference.
“Our coaches scream that every day in our ear: The 50-50 balls be the ones you got to catch,” Pope said. “We work on that every day. It was nothing new to us. We just had to man up and do what we had to do.”
It’s also helped the Hurricanes cut downon drops, although even that still happened at N.C. State on back-to-back throws to Pope and Wiggins on Friday. Ultimately, it was a footnote on a night when King threw for 430 yards and five touchdowns. Harley, Pope, Wiggins and tight end Will Mallory all had at least six receptions.
“Some of it just comes down to take your eyes to the ball. A few of my drops were like that, just not focused on the ball, looking somewhere else without looking at the ball,” Pope said.
“Even the best drop balls. We just put that aside. That’s just another adversity. Put that aside, and just play the next play. Go out there and have fun.”
Hurricanes wideouts will look to keep having fun on Saturday against a Virginia Tech defense that ranks 88th in pass defense, allowing 258 yards per game.