Meet Chattooga’s Pope of the Pigskin: Anchor of the Offensive Line

It’s time to meet Chattooga High School’s Dustin Pope. Dustin towers over opponents at an imposing 6’6″ and tips the scales at a little over 300 lbs. He is the starting left tackle for the Indians.

Dustin is 16 years old, a junior and wears jersey #73. His max squat is 650 lbs, max bench press is 340 lbs and he runs the 40 yard dash in 5.6 seconds.

His current GPA is a 3.8. He attended Middle School at Menlo. He is the son of Shannon Pope and Charles Pope.

“Pope is an experienced lineman that will help in leading our offense. Dustin is a great student and works extremely hard, we are glad he is on our side,” says head coach Charles Hammon.

All On Georgia: What inspires you to play football?

Pope: There is a lot of things that inspire me to play football my parents are a big part of that they’ve always push me to go all out and strive for greatness. They’ve always expected the best out of me and that’s what I try to do. Coach Hammon is also a very big part of what inspires me in football I look up to him a lot and he’s always been there in my football career and has given me amazing opportunities to get better and be able to be a better football player. Coach Peppers is also a big part of my football career he pushes me in the weight room and on the field and tries everything he can to make me better and get me more noticed. But the thing that inspires me the most is knowing that I’ve been blessed with my size and knowing that I can go a long way with football and get a very good education and be able to support my family with this.

All On Georgia: What are your other interests and hobbies outside of football?

Pope: My hobbies and interests are lifting weights because I like to build and become stronger for anything I do in life. I also play video games when I feel that I’m able to relax and I’ve put in work for the day most of the times I like trying to help people whether it be friends or family I like to get out of the house in my spare time and doing things like fishing and hanging out with friends.

All On Georgia: Describe yourself in three words.

Pope: Three words that describe me: humble, respectful and kind-hearted.

All On Georgia: What advice would you give a young rec football player?

Pope: Advice that I would give to a young rec football player is football will be very hard at times and it’s up to you to pull through and be the best that you can be and give it 100% no matter what always stay in school and make sure your grades are good if you study hard train hard and listen to your coach you can go far in places and be able to explore places you never have, but out of most of it be sure to have fun and stay happy with what you’re doing and always keep your head up and move forward

All On Georgia: What are your goals for this season?

Pope: My goals this season are to work on anything that I can to better myself and to protect my quarterback. I want to hear my coaches and parents say that they are proud of me because I worked so hard this year. I hope to get stronger and exceed everyone’s expectations and prove to everyone that I can be as good as I want to be if I just put my heart into it and keep moving forward

All On Georgia: Do you have a pre-game ritual?

Pope: My pre-game rituals: I pray that I do my best and everyone stays safe and normally before every game I think of all my teammates and coaches and family and think to myself that if I give it everything I have they will all be proud of me and I can show the world that I can have the heart to do anything that’s possible to go further

All On Georgia: What would be a perfect pre-game meal for you?

Pope: My perfect pre-game meal would be a steak and plenty of water and some bananas for potassium… but most importantly plenty of water.