Tennessee receivers coach Kelsey Pope hasn’t coached big time college football for long but he’s quickly made a name for himself.
On3 released a list of 30 power five assistant coaches rising stars Wednesday morning with Vols’ receivers coach making the list. Pope is the only Tennessee assistant on the list.
Pope is entering his third season in Tennessee’s football program and just his second year as the Vols’ receivers coach. The 33-year old joined the Vols’ program in 2021 as an offensive analyst before Josh Heupel promoted him to receivers coach after the season when current receivers coach Kodi Burns left Tennessee to become the New Orleans’ Saints new receivers coach.
Tennessee’s receivers vouched for Pope during Heupel’s search for Burns’ replacement and the results quickly spoke for themselves. After a quiet first two seasons at Tennessee, receiver Jalin Hyatt broke onto the scene in 2022 catching 67 passes for 1,267 yards and 15 touchdowns.
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In Pope’s first season as Tennessee’s receivers coach, Hyatt became the first ever Volunteer to win the Biletnikoff Award— presented yearly to the top pass catcher in college football.
“I think Kelsey’s an expert wide receivers coach,” a coaching source told On3’s Matt Zenitz. “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.”
Pope, a former Samford standout receiver, spent a season at both Tennessee Tech and Gardner Webb before joining the Volunteer program in 2021. Despite no experience in big time college football, Pope has been excellent on the recruiting trail.
The Vols landed high four-stars Nathan Leacock and Cam Seldon (though he’s starting his career at running back) in the 2023 recruiting cycle and beat out Clemson, Georgia and Southern Cal for five-star Mike Matthews in the 2024 recruiting cycle.
