Tennessee Vols assistant labeled as a 'rising star' by national media outlet
A Tennessee Vols assistant coach was labeled this week by On3 as a "rising star" in college football. On3 named 30 Power-5 assistants that they think are names "you need to know". And Vols wide receivers coach Kelsey Pope was one of the coaches they included. From On3: “I think Kelsey’s an expert wide receivers […]
A Tennessee Vols assistant coach was labeled this week by On3 as a "rising star" in college football.
On3 named 30 Power-5 assistants that they think are names "you need to know".
And Vols wide receivers coach Kelsey Pope was one of the coaches they included.
From On3: “I think Kelsey’s an expert wide receivers coach,” a coaching source told On3. “To me, he’s a master teacher of the receiver position. He played the position at a really high level and he understands the game. The second thing that I think makes him is really good is he’s super relatable. Kids gravitate to him and relate to him. And that’s part of why he got the job at Tennessee because the kids really stood on the table and wanted him to have the job. And you can see the product with his development of Hyatt and landing the No. 1 receiver all-time recruiting-wise at Tennessee. He’s rising quick. First year coaching and you get the Biletnikoff Award winner. That’s pretty good."…….Read more from On3 about Pope here.
There was some skepticism in Knoxville when Vols head coach Josh Heupel replaced Kodi Burns (UT's wide receivers coach in Heupel's first season) with Pope, who was an analyst at the time at Tennessee.
But the move paid off in a big way for the Vols. For starters, it provided Tennessee with important continuity. Secondly, UT's wide receivers produced at an extremely high level last season (especially Jalin Hyatt). And lastly, Pope has proven to be an elite recruiter.
Pope has landed several high profile wide receivers, including five-star wide receiver Mike Matthews, who committed to Tennessee earlier this summer.
It won't be long before the NFL comes calling for Pope. Or another program offers him an offensive coordinator gig. Unfortunately for the Vols, this is a reality that Tennessee will have to learn to live with — because if the Vols continue to win at a high level, then their assistants are going to be highly coveted.
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Featured image via Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK
