Kylen Pope – Big Time Athlete, Bigger Heart

Last season for Kylen is a good example of “it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”

Kylen’s 7th grade year as a team went a little shaky, due to the team not being mentally tough. There were times when the team should have gotten the job done but came up short by a touchdown or less because of lack of mental discipline. We asked Kylen what he felt about all of that and his response was, “ I was blessed and fortunate enough to be apart of a really good team, with some pretty good athletes as my teammates at the time with mostly 8th graders. The school that I attend which is Cedartown Middle school is a lot smaller. So I myself with a lot of other players had to play multiple positions and play on both sides of the ball every game.” Says Kylen. For Kylen, he played outside linebacker on defense and averaged 6 tackles a game. Last year was also the year that he was introduced to running back. Kylen tell us that it was “was very different and exciting at the same time.”

Kylen doesn’t mind what he does on the gridiron because he’s a kid that just wants to play ball. “Due to growing up and always being one of the bigger guys I never really got a chance to run the ball. Everyone (rec/travel teams) use me for defense or blocking which I was fine with that cause at the end of the day I just wanted to play football. However, playing running back I feel like I excelled in this position with at least 2 touchdowns a game and a tremendous amount of yards. I felt like I played a big part of our offensive role to help us succeed as a team.” Says Kylen.

The off-season has been going really good for Kylen. He was able to attend a couple of college camps including University of Alabama & Auburn. He also attended a couple more local camps near his hometown. Kylen had the chance to participate in the FSG game/camp which was held in Savannah Georgia. This year were they were able to Win the Championship for Team Georgia 7th grade. Kylen played defensive end which is his favorite position and the position that he says he plays best. Kylen has been able to train with “the best” his trainer Marcus Howard. Kylen said he’s Blessed to be about to train with him and that he pushes him harder then anybody.

We asked Kylen what else he’s been doing this off-season. “I been lifting at least 4 times a week and been on field doing speed, agility, and change of direction work. I’m very grateful to be alone side some top college athletes from my hometown and our hometown Hero, Nick Chubb who’s an NFL player that play for the Cleveland Browns.” Says Kylen.

The Cedartown coaching staff make sure their guys put in the work, what we see is that they have one of the best strength and conditioning coaches in Coach Mikey Worthington. This can only be beneficial for Kylen and his teammates.

Kylen says his plans as a team and a teammate is to be a leader to help carry his team to a victory each time they take the field. His plans for himself this season are to stay focused and humble while making sure that he’s putting in work and doing all he can to do better as a football player.

Kylen told us, “My goal is to become stronger, faster, and tougher. The main thing is to better than I did before.”

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