Summer WR enrollees Pope and Ezzard update fall camp progress

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Stefan Adams

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If you’ve been following the team over fall camp, you know it has been Mark Pope that has been receiving the most praise of freshmen receivers from the staff and players in interviews. This week, he even began to start working in at first team and rotating with Lawrence Cager at Z receiver.

“It’s been going great so far, going out there and doing what I’ve got to do,” Pope said on his rise. “It’s just about staying focused and doing what the coaches ask.”

UM receivers coach Ron Dugans has told all of the freshman receivers that they’ll be playing this year and to stay ready for when their number is called. Pope’s relationship with Dugans was a big reason that he ended up at Miami and he elaborated on what makes Dugans such a good coach.

“Coach Dugans is just a great guy,” Pope said. “He’s going to make sure you’re good not just in football, but in life too. He definitely be on me about the playbook, though.”

As he’s worked with all three units at different points in camp, Pope has the unique perspective of having caught passes from all four of UM QB’s.

“The quarterbacks, I love all of them,” Pope said. “Everyone is so accurate, put the ball right in my chest, and there’s not much more you can ask for. They can do it all.”

The Hurricanes’ coaches made a blooper reel of all the freshmen players’ miscues called “Welcome to College Football” and play the tape in team meetings. Pope admits he’s made reel in the first few weeks of camp.

“(Laughs) I made it once,” Pope said. “I was loafing off the ball and Mike Jackson just drove me into the sidelines.”

Who is the hardest hitter on the UM defense?

“I’d say Amari (Carter) from what I’ve seen. I haven’t got welcomed (hit) by him yet, though. He’s got to catch me first.”


**Freshman wide receiver Marquez Ezzard is making the transition from playing in a triple-option offense in high school to Miami’s pro-spread attack.

“I feel really good about what we got going on,” Ezzard said. “It was hard coming in and learning a completely new offense type, but I stay learning.”

Ezzard has seen mostly third team reps from the slot behind Jeff Thomas and Mike Harley. To see more time, Ezzard is just going to keep grinding every day as he continues to become more comfortable with the offense.

“Coach Dugans said we’ve got to do it every day and keep getting better and better,” Ezzard said. “Keep grinding and learning, learning the playbook. I’m getting better with the offense.”

Coming to Miami from Georgia, Ezzard wasn’t completely starting over. He’s been good friends with fellow freshman Realus “Unc” George since they were kids and they’re currently roommates together at UM.

“I like Realus, he’s my boy,” Ezzard said. “We grew up together. It’s been cool living with him.”

Ezzard reports he’s down 7 pounds from when he arrived to UM in late May and will play this season at 208 pounds. How does he feel he performed in Saturday’s scrimmage?

“I felt like I did really good,” Ezzard said. “I stayed in the playbook (beforehand) like coach Dugans said and it paid off, made some plays.”
 
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Feels good to have real Miami quality depth from top to bottom on the WR depth chart
 
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Miami needs to go ultra hurry up and try to be around 100 plays a game so each play maker can get at least 10 targets a game. How does a guy get on the field with all that talent? Gotta be an insane competition going on, they're all gonna elevate.
 
Miami needs to go ultra hurry up and try to be around 100 plays a game so each play maker can get at least 10 targets a game. How does a guy get on the field with all that talent? Gotta be an insane competition going on, they're all gonna elevate.

Ive said that for awhile, we dont need to go full Cuse or Chip Kelly but it's almost a waste of all this talent and depth by not going tempo at least a little bit. Especially at home in the South Florida heat and humidity
 
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“I’d say Amari (Carter) from what I’ve seen. I haven’t got welcomed (hit) by him yet, though. He’s got to catch me first.”

You can't hit what you can't catch. Lol.

I love the for two reasons...

1. It's funny as ****
2. Amari is still laying that wood. Between he and Hall, a WR is going to get their head knocked off this year.
 
I’d call it a Luke warm take lol. But seriously, I don’t think he’ll start but he will play and needs to be on the same page as Malik. Thats why I think he runnin with the 1’s.

Agree with this for the last part, but I could def see Pope starting a game or few later in the year
 
“I’d say Amari (Carter) from what I’ve seen. I haven’t got welcomed (hit) by him yet, though. He’s got to catch me first.”

You can't hit what you can't catch. Lol.

I love the for two reasons...

1. It's funny as ****
2. Amari is still laying that wood. Between he and Hall, a WR is going to get their head knocked off this year.
Been tryna tell these cats not to sleep on The Hitman Amari Carter.

I'm already saving up so I can help put up the bread for the legal fees for Amari. He'll need the best lawyers available to beat that body charge that's coming this season lol
 
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My body is ready for an obscene amount of rotating by our WRs.
 
Ive said that for awhile, we dont need to go full Cuse or Chip Kelly but it's almost a waste of all this talent and depth by not going tempo at least a little bit. Especially at home in the South Florida heat and humidity

This and this!! I think a chip Kelly up tempo offense would kill it here.. sfla has the athletes and with the weather we could really make home games a nightmare for opposing teams.
 
This and this!! I think a chip Kelly up tempo offense would kill it here.. sfla has the athletes and with the weather we could really make home games a nightmare for opposing teams.

And now that Miami is back to a full allotment of scholarships, you can't use 'lack of depth' as an excuse. Miami now has the bullets, lets start pulling the trigger here
 
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Hightower is the complete package in my opinion. Pope is an amazing athlete and will be a star, but Hightower can be an Andre Johnson or A. Richards caliber player with his speed, build, and body control.
Both will be really good imo and that’s great for us. Remember before they dropped his rating Hightower was **** near a 5 star and was top 40 in the country.
 
Been tryna tell these cats not to sleep on The Hitman Amari Carter.

I'm already saving up so I can help put up the bread for the legal fees for Amari. He'll need the best lawyers available to beat that body charge that's coming this season lol
Could not agree more, my man. Amari was one of my favorite safeties in his class. He received a significant amount of snaps last year, and I expect him to receive starter level snaps this year, even though he is not a starter.

As a sophomore, he would be a starter at most other programs. Some people on this board have been down on Amari because he is not starting over Redwine. People forget that Redwine and Jaquan have been player together for 8 **** years, when you include their high school careers. You can't teach that type of chemistry.
 
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