Athens ? Physically, they don't look the same. They don't wear the same number, don't play the same position.
But go beyond what you've seen on Saturdays at Sanford Stadium and you'll find the resemblance between Leonard Pope, Georgia's star tight end, and Herschel Walker, the Bulldogs' legendary tailback, is uncanny ? from their humble roots to their down-home, country smarts.
Leonard Pope caught touchdown passes in five consecutive games for Georgia last season, and the Bulldogs are determined to get the ball to their tight end often.
"[Pope] does have Herschel's humility," said Bulldog Club executive secretary Loran Smith, like Walker a native of Wrightsville and the foremost authority on the greatest player in Georgia history. "Leonard speaks of the team first, and it's real. You can speak that language and it not be genuine, but it is with him. And he really loves Georgia."
Pope is from the southwest Georgia town of Americus, where manufacturing and farming are the primary industries, where the majority of citizens live on below-average incomes, where the high school dropout rate remains high.
He didn't blow away the SAT or ace every class in high school. In fact, Pope struggled. He needed a year at Virginia's Hargrave Military Academy just to attain the academic credentials required to enroll at Georgia.
But he's always impressed his teachers with kindness and a willingness to work in the classroom, and he still talks regularly with his fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Hancock.
"From grade school all the way up, his teachers have always liked him," said Leonard's mother, Karen Pope, one of more than 900 employees at Cooper Lighting, the largest employer in Americus. "He's just a good kid. I never had any trouble with him. He never got into any fights or a lot of the things the other kids were getting into.
"We try to keep him humble, but he's always been that way."
After he was denied admission to Georgia, Pope agreed to spend a year at Hargrave, which in addition to being a hard-edged military school ? complete with uniforms, curfews and daily reveille ? also happens to be 550 miles from Americus.
Not blessed with the means to fly or with a car to drive, Pope would ride three hours with his mother to Atlanta, then jump on a bus for the long, lonely ride to Chatham, Va.
"Can you imagine what it was like for a 6-8 guy to ride on a bus for 12 or 13 hours by the time it stopped in all the little towns between here and there?" Smith said. "He definitely paid a price to be at Georgia."
Pope finally arrived in Athens in 2003 and has flourished not only on the field, where he was deemed first-team All-SEC and preseason All-America this fall, but in the classroom. Now a junior, he has a 3.0 GPA in sports studies. He's on track to graduate.
It doesn't come easy to Pope, say those who know him best, but he takes full advantage of Georgia's academic support system for athletes, never missing tutoring sessions or study halls in the Rankin Smith Academic Achievement Center.
"I kind of took the hard way to get here, but it was a blessing in disguise," he said. "It helped me appreciate what I've got here, to not take things for granted. It taught me to work hard and made me grow up."
It's not Pope's work in the classroom or his modesty that has NFL scouts buzzing and defensive coordinators scratching their heads.
Like Walker, Pope is blessed with rare athletic gifts. He is an Atlas of a man, rising more than 6 feet, 7 inches and tipping the scales at 260 pounds, yet able to sprint 40 yards at a 4.6-second clip.
These freakish traits were evident at an early age. Hence the nickname "Champ," which was bestowed upon the still-diapered Pope by his great grandfather Ludrell Pope, who turned 100 on Aug. 14 and remains his biggest fan.
After starting last season as the backup to Martrez Milner, Pope burst on the scene midway through the schedule. Highlighted by a two-touchdown day that helped propel Georgia to a win over Florida, Pope caught six touchdown passes ? including scores in five games in a row ? the last half of the season. He finished as the Bulldogs' third-leading receiver with 25 catches for 482 yards.
Georgia coach Mark Richt had future NFL tight ends when he was at Florida State, and he's had Randy McMichael and Ben Watson since he's been with the Bulldogs. But he said Pope is probably the best of all.
"He's as good or better than any [tight end] I've ever seen," Richt said. "I've never had a guy that was that tall and was that fast and that strong and that was just gaining his confidence the way Leonard has been.
"I don't think we've seen him as good as he can play, and he played really good the last five or six games last year. I don't want to put any pressure on him, but he's a special guy."
To that end, Richt is going to do everything he can to get him the ball. Pope had three catches for 45 yards in the opener against Boise State, while Milner had a bigger day with three receptions for 111 yards.
It was Pope's block, however, that sprung Milner for a 56-yard touchdown.
"We're going to make sure he's the primary target a lot," Richt said. "We have more pass plays than I've ever had in our offense that are geared toward the tight end."
True to his character, Pope said he's unconcerned with the number of balls thrown his way this season.
"My main strength is blocking," he said. "We've got three horses back there in the backfield, and I just want to do my best to give them somewhere to run, just like the rest of the offensive line. If they throw the ball to me, I just try my best to catch it."
Herschel Walker couldn't have said it better himself.
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Pope rode the bus with his mama. Now that is dedication.
Comparisons to Hershel Walker, it don't get any better than that for the Bulldogs. Man he is liable
to beat USC by himself.
KOD
