Jake Pope Tape Review

Brooks Austin, lead editor of Dawgs Daily, evaluated six 2022 defensive backs on Wednesday, including safety Jake Pope.

On Wednesday night, Brooks Austin, lead editor of Dawgs Daily, broke down six defensive backs from the class of 2022. Buford safety Jake Pope was one of those players and he validated the hype surrounding his name this offseason.

The popular belief is that Georgia will use an extremely deep 2022 class of defensive backs and could take as many as six defensive backs in the class. It is a major roster need and the 2022 class is extremely deep in the back end.

With the decommitment of defensive back Deyon "Smoke" Bouie, Georgia has to rearrange the recruiting board in the back end. 

According to sources around the program, members of the Bulldogs staff are enthralled with Pope. They are recruiting him as a defensive back, but some believe he can also play receiver.

Pope’s athleticism jumps off the screen when evaluating him. He is a legit 4.40-second runner in the 40-yard dash and can run near a 4.00 short shuttle. He's a rare breed of both long speed and short-area quickness.  

He has adequate size at 6-1 and 190 pounds. His high-school team routinely throws him fade balls in the red zone, something that is standard operations for prospects much taller than Pope. That speaks to what a freaky athlete Pope is.

Pope’s ball skills are also incredibly impressive. He attacks the ball at its highest point and rips the football out of the air.

Austin views him as a center-field safety, but he could be a wideout in college. His ball skills will allow him to take the ball away from receivers in college.

He is a polished tackler that is not afraid to come downhill and deliver a hit. In his state championship game, Pope hit Lee County running back and member of South Carolina's 2021 signing class, Caleb McDowell, and forced a game-winning fumble in overtime. 

Everything about Pope’s game is nuanced. He understands the minor details of both wide receiver and safety, which speaks to his work ethic. Many players that play both ways in high school don’t get into the little details of every position, but Pope does.

This is a polished prospect that Georgia is very high on. He doesn’t have a glaring weakness and will only get better in college.

Austin compared him to Houston Texans safety Justin Reid. Coming out of Stanford, Reid didn’t have any big holes in his game. He has been a starter for the Texans for the better part of two seasons and is one of the best young safeties in the NFL.

This is a “big-boy” recruitment. Pope is currently being recruited by programs like Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson and North Carolina.

The Bulldogs feel good about where they stand in this recruitment. Pope is reportedly high on the Bulldogs and it appears that he is a high-level target in this class.