Pope to play linebacker

[Digetydog]

Mason stated the biggest two reasons for this move:

1.) The D needs senior leadership from the Buck to get lined up correctly, can't play good D when you start off lined up wrong

2.) KC seems to finally be coming into his own and he looks way more talented than Pope when he plays to his potential and already have a good blocking back in P Line.

Statements made by PF members about him listening to public opinion to keep his job are asinine.

Well, there were some that said it would be a popular move to hire Tom Rossley. All of a sudden Mason tries to hire Tom Rossley. Imagine that.

Coach Rossley is popular with the fan base.

+ Coach Rossley is a well respected offensive coach with decades of experience.

[JasonB]

better question is why it took him this long to figure out that Pope was more valuable on defense than offense. Pope got 3 carries last week while ECU had 7 scoring drives of over 65 yards on his defense

Maybe, just maybe, Pope has other limitations at LB. Like he isn't great in pass coverage. And he was fantastic at the end of the season at RB. So, they switched him to RB under the assumptions that Tui and Nwosu would come up to speed at some point, Horton would be healhty, and Yenga would play well inside. That plan obviously didn't work out. They probably could have switched out the positions in the first bye week, but at least they are doing it before the season ended.

[footballdad]

better question is why it took him this long to figure out that Pope was more valuable on defense than offense. Pope got 3 carries last week while ECU had 7 scoring drives of over 65 yards on his defense

Maybe, just maybe, Pope has other limitations at LB. Like he isn't great in pass coverage. And he was fantastic at the end of the season at RB. So, they switched him to RB under the assumptions that Tui and Nwosu would come up to speed at some point, Horton would be healhty, and Yenga would play well inside. That plan obviously didn't work out. They probably could have switched out the positions in the first bye week, but at least they are doing it before the season ended.

Pope was our best LB last year, period. June got a chance to run his little RB experiment last year out of desperation, and it looked good until he got injured, so he decided to steal him from Mason.

Plan backfired (surprise, surprise) and now Pope can get back to being an impact player for this team.

[mrydel]

All middle LBs have been a little short of desired on pass coverage. We need some deep drops to stop those middle crossing patterns.

[JasonB]

better question is why it took him this long to figure out that Pope was more valuable on defense than offense. Pope got 3 carries last week while ECU had 7 scoring drives of over 65 yards on his defense

Maybe, just maybe, Pope has other limitations at LB. Like he isn't great in pass coverage. And he was fantastic at the end of the season at RB. So, they switched him to RB under the assumptions that Tui and Nwosu would come up to speed at some point, Horton would be healhty, and Yenga would play well inside. That plan obviously didn't work out. They probably could have switched out the positions in the first bye week, but at least they are doing it before the season ended.

Pope was our best LB last year, period. June got a chance to run his little RB experiment last year out of desperation, and it looked good until he got injured, so he decided to steal him from Mason.

Plan backfired (surprise, surprise) and now Pope can get back to being an impact player for this team.

Rambo when healthy? I get your point though... Pope is really strong against the run and can blitz. He just has to have a strong cover guy paired with him. It got exposed when Rambo was out last season, but between Nwosu, Tui, Yenga, and Horton I don't know who helps out the most.