The one area where UM’s Mark Pope is ‘as good as anybody’ WRs coach Rob Likens has seen
The list is only two names long.
In the past two years, only two coaches have sent a wide receiver to the first round of the NFL Draft in both 2019 and 2020. Dennis Simmons, the outside wide receivers coach for the always-elite Oklahoma Sooners, is an obvious one.
Rob Likens, now the Miami Hurricanes’ wide receivers coach, did it with the Arizona State Sun Devils.
N’Keal Harry, a former four-star prospect, went the New England Patriots with the No. 32 pick of the 2019 NFL Draft. Brandon Aiyuk, a former junior college transfer, went with the No. 25 pick of the 2020 NFL Draft to the San Francisco 49ers.
There’s at least one area where Mark Pope, who might emerge as Miami’s No. 1 wide receiver in 2020, might even best them, Likens said.
“What I look for,” Likens said Wednesday in an appearance on WQAM’s “The Joe Rose Show with Zach Krantz,” “is I think you have to have great lateral quickness as a wide receiver because the game has changed. There’s so much more press coverage. You’re going to get bump-and-run about 75 percent of the time when you’re an outside receiver and if you can’t get off press coverage, then you look bad, but if you have that lateral spot quickness — the 5-yard quickness, the quick twitch — then that should translate into you being able to get off press coverage.
“Mark Pope has as good as anybody I’ve ever seen.”
Likens’ sample size of working with Pope is still small, but the assistant coach has consistently praised the junior since he began working with him at the start of spring practices in March. In a radio interview Wednesday, he once again lauded the receiver’s potential.
He’ll be able to get an even more in-depth look at the wideout in August when Miami will be able to begin preseason practices. The Division I Football Oversight Council approved a proposal Wednesday, which will let teams begin training camp Aug. 7.
Pope came to the Hurricanes’ as part of their touted Class of 2018. He was a five-star wide receiver in the Rivals.com rankings, but a non-factor as a freshman in 2018, catching just one pass for 11 yards. As a sophomore, Pope took a significant step forward, catching 18 pass for 266 yards and two touchdowns, and even starting occasionally. Still, he has shown just flashes of what made him coveted by teams like the Alabama Crimson Tide and Florida Gators while he was at Miami Southridge.
As a freshman, Pope admitted struggled to grasp the playbook and former coach Mark Richt’s pro-style offense. As a sophomore, Pope once again played in a pro-style system when former offensive coordinator Dan Enos took over playcalling duties. Pope’s junior season will be a fresh start as Likens and offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee implement a simplified spread offense.
“It helps everybody because instead of sitting around trying to learn 15, 16 different pass concepts, you learn, OK, my right foot is up. OK, how am I coming off the ball against the way this defensive back is playing me? Instead of, Hey, what do I got on this play?” Likens said. “We have a saying in the sports world: If you’re thinking, you’re stinking, so we have got to get rid of that process where players are thinking so much and just let them play ball. I think that’s the No. 1 thing that’s going to help him.”
Likens echoed a sentiment everyone around the program has repeated since Lashlee took over in January: Simplifying the offense should help everyone.
“In college football, people don’t realize we don’t have a whole lot of time with the players, so if you’re running a pro-style offense in college football nowadays and you expect these kids to learn the playbook like an NFL guy learning a playbook —and he has all day long to do it without the distractions of going to school, of being 18-21 years old and all of those things — man, you’re just asking for trouble, in my opinion. You’re asking too much of them. They can’t learn it, so they have an abundance of plays, but they don’t have the skill level because they’re trying to do so much to back it up,” LIkens said. “To me, it just shows on the field, so it starts with a simplistic system and it starts with getting these guys—you don’t have to teach them so much, but then you can concentrate on the very small, minute details of your assignment over, and over and over again. And I think that’s the secret to success in college football.”
Recruiting success
It took Likens some time to get going on the recruiting trail in South Florida. In the past two weeks, though, he has put together a dynamic incoming group of wideouts.
On June 3, the Hurricanes landed an oral commitment from Plantation four-star wide receiver Jacolby George, an Under Armour All-American and the third highest ranked recruit in Miami’s Class of 2021, according to the 247Sports.com composite rankings. On Saturday, Miami landed a commitment from Miami Northwestern four-star wide receiver Romello Brinson, who immediately became the top-ranked prospect in the Hurricanes’ 2021 recruiting class.
At the start of the month, Miami didn’t have a single wide receiver committed. Now it holds pledges from two of the best in Florida with the revamped offense a reason both rejoined the class after decommitting last year.
Likens hopes he’s just getting started.
“As a recruiter and coaching football for 30 years, I think what you’ll find out is a lot of recruiting has to do with what emblem you’ve got there sitting on your shirt when you walk in a school has a lot to do with it,” Likens said. “Just knowing that I was going to be a part of that, that was like the No. 1 thing that excited me most was thinking about the possibilities recruiting with a Miami shirt on.
“From what I’ve seen being down here this short period of time and watching as much as film as I have on local recruits, it’s a hotbed. It’s a great place to be.”
This story was originally published June 17, 2020 at 11:02 AM.
