Athletic, instinctive K'Vaughan Pope can shine for Buckeyes

Ohio State had one of the best seasons in program history last year, and it came with the help of some young players. Now as the younger Buckeyes enter another year for the Buckeyes, they may be expected to take on expanded roles. Lettermen Row is breaking down a play from each key inexperienced Buckeye and how it can help provide a glimpse into each of their futures. Next up: K’Vaughan Pope adds depth to talented linebacker room.

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COLUMBUS — K’Vaughan Pope has plenty of small moments to build on for Ohio State.

The rising junior showed promise early last season during the second half of blowout games. But he never had a flashy, attention-grabbing play — until he had them in back-to-back games, plays that officially put him in the mix for the Buckeyes.

Pope registered an interception in consecutive games against Maryland and Rutgers in November, putting him on the radar as an upcoming playmaker for the Buckeyes defense.

“It humbled me,” Pope said. “It was a good experience. I had fun while doing it.”

Those plays may have been against the bottom-dwellers of the Big Ten, but they’re moments Pope can look back on to boost confidence in a deep linebacker room that makes playing time hard to come by. As the Buckeyes continually dominated opponents in the regular season, Pope found himself earning more time on the field with the second-team defense.

That experience helped him ease into his role for Al Washington’s linebackers unit. By November, the game began to slow down for Pope. That’s when the head-turning plays came along.

“It’s way faster than what I thought it would be,” Pope said. “But everything slows down once you know what to do, and once you get the grasp of the game.”

The interception against Maryland was a solo moment, but Pope turned in a complete performance the next week against Rutgers. He charted six tackles to go along with his pick; nearly half of his season-total for tackles came against the Scarlet Knights.

Those moments are ones he can build from down the road.

The play: Early in the second half of the Buckeyes win over Rutgers, Pope dropped slightly back into coverage and read the eyes of Scarlet Knights quarterback Johnny Langan perfectly. He jumped up, tipped the ball to himself using his right hand and secured his second career interception before being wrestled down to the ground.

The play was inconsequential in the outcome of the game, and both his interceptions last season were in the big picture. But they proved that Pope has both the athletic ability and instinct to make an impressive play out of nowhere.

Ohio State returns seven of its top eight linebackers from a season ago, so it won’t be easy to find a solid and definitive role within the Silver Bullets defense.

But if K’Vaughan Pope can show consistency while still making athletic, eye-popping plays like he made at Rutgers last year, it’ll be hard to keep him off the field in spots for the Buckeyes.