Miami lands commitment from another Rivals100 prospect

Sometimes, recruiting momentum grinds to halt. Sometimes, the hot stay hot.

This is a case of the latter.

The movement building in Miami is not slowing. On Monday, the Hurricanes added another Rivals100 prospect to their commitment list when four-star wideout Mark Pope tweeted his intentions to play for Mark Richt’s program next season.

Pope says he knew he’d eventually commit to Miami for weeks but waited simply for the sake of waiting. The delay in announcement was more about timing than anything else. This, it seems, was the case of a prospect picking his spot.

“Today was the time for me,” Pope said on Monday. “I knew it was going to be Miami. I just didn’t know when. Today seemed like the day, so I went ahead and did it. I did it to bring back the program. I did it for my city, you know? We’re bringing back the U.”

And so the follow-up question is obvious. With eight prospects rated four stars or better already in the Miami fold for 2018, who will be next to join the parade of touted prospects marching toward Coral Cables?

“I’m not totally sure who's next,” Pope said. “I’m going to try to get my boy Elijah [Moore]. I don’t know if he’ll be next, but I’m going to try.”

Pope said that his relationship with Hurricanes wide receivers coach Ron Dugans played a major role in his decision. The fact that Miami Quality Control Analyst David Cooney once coached Pope on the high school level certainly didn’t hurt the situation either.

Still, it was Richt and Dugans that accepted Pope’s commitment by phone on Monday and the reaction was one of joy.

“They just couldn’t stop laughing, man.” Pope said. “Everyone there is happy.”

Pope attends Miami Southridge high school and is the No. 30 overall recruit in the class of 2018.