UNLV’s new No. 7: Jake Pope could pick up where Jackson Woodard left off

UNLV’s No. 7 jersey was inescapable when the Rebels’ defense was on the field last year.

That trend might not be changing this season, even though the player donning the number will be different. Linebacker Jackson Woodard, the 2024 Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year, is off to the NFL as an undrafted free agent with the Houston Texans but incoming safety Jake Pope welcomes the challenge that comes with inheriting No. 7.

“I think I just saw on the (award) statue that he had 135 tackles last year, which is insane,” Pope said of Woodard. “I’m going to try to fill those shoes while also being my own man as well but holding the standard Jackson made for the team.”

At 6-foot, 200 pounds, Pope is a lot smaller than Woodard but there are similarities elsewhere.

Both scouted out as highly versatile and top-rated recruits, capable of either stuffing the run or excelling in pass coverage, out of high school in the South.  

Woodard, a Little Rock, Ark., native arrived in Las Vegas after three seasons at the University of Arkansas. He transferred to follow Barry Odom, who went from the Razorbacks’ defensive coordinator to the Rebels’ head coach.

Woodard, who grew up in Atlanta’s Northern suburbs, made UNLV his third stop after two seasons at the University of Alabama and one at the University of Georgia. He was drawn to the Rebels after they hired new coach Dan Mullen to replace Odom.

Mullen is making his return to college football four years after being fired at the University of Florida, where he once recruited Pope.

“They were one of my last offers, so I was pretty far into it, and I think I had a top five at that point,” Pope recalled. “So, I was a little mad I didn’t get to indulge in Florida and get to know Coach Mullen a little bit more. But I’m really glad to circle back around after not having that chance back then.”

Pope was one of two players chosen by Mullen to represent UNLV at Mountain West Media Days Tuesday at Circa. Wednesday is the final session of the event with Mullen scheduled to speak in the morning.

It’s been a notable one for the Rebels, which were unveiled as the No. 2 ranked team in the preseason conference poll.

Pope cited playing for Mullen as the top reason he chose to come to UNLV, but the chance to win at a high level wasn’t far behind. The 21-year-old has been on teams that made the College Football Playoff in each of the last two years — and was one spot off on the No. 5 team as a redshirt freshman at Alabama — and is eyeing that goal again this year.

It’s not far-fetched as UNLV belongs on the short list of contenders to possibly nab the fifth automatic bid as a conference champion. Boise State earned the berth in last year’s inaugural 12-team field by beating UNLV 21-7 in the Mountain West championship game.

The Rebels have endured major roster turnover since then but not much of a drop-off in terms of talent.

Mullen attracted several former four- and five-star recruits from power conferences with the conference’s top-rated transfer portal haul in his first offseason.

Pope might not even be the headliner with other big-time prospects like former Michigan quarterback Alex Orji former Texas A&M/LSU cornerback Denver Harris and former Miami edge rusher Elias Rudolph also joining the Scarlet and Gray.

“I think we reloaded with even more talented guys,” Pope said.

UNLV was more offensively led early in last year’s 11-3 campaign, but the defense emerged to become just as much the identity of the team late. The Rebels held five straight opponents to 21 points or less to close the season.

Returning junior linebacker Marsel McDuffie was a big part of the unit stiffening. He made the Mountain West Preseason All-Conference Team announced as part of Media Days.

Pope praised McDuffie as, “a great leader,” in the linebacking corps. Pope is hoping to take that distinction in the defensive backfield.

“He’s a hard matchup,” UNLV receiver DeAngelo Irvin said of facing Pope in spring practices. “He's a tough player. He's fast, he can move around well for his size, but it's fun. I love competing against the guys every day.”

Irvin is one of the few Rebels who has stayed exclusively with the program as he enters his third season as an all-purpose threat. Playing against the likes of Woodard every day in practice over the last two years surely escalated his progression and he’s not expecting things to be any different when training camp commences in the next couple weeks.

Pope is a football junkie who’s typically watching other team's games when he’s not preparing for his own. That allowed him to form a connection with UNLV far before he ever imagined he’d wind up at the school.

He described the chance to play on Boise State’s famed blue turf when UNLV travels there on Oct. 18 as, “surreal,” because of all the games he watched at the venue on television growing up. Pope even caught a UNLV game last year, as he remembers watching the Rebels’ 44-41 overtime loss to Syracuse on a Friday night.

That’s when he first became familiar with Woodard, who had an all-time night with 14 tackles with an interception and two pass break-ups.

This year, that’s the type of impact Pope will be looking to make in Scarlet and Gray.

“I think if we have (last year’s) mentality of flying around on defense, we’ll be able to hold people to goose eggs,” he said.