Pappoe far from average 5* freshman

[WFE12 9,191]

Hardworking Auburn linebacker Owen Pappoe is far from the average five-star freshman

Joah Vitale Montgomery Adviser 

AUBURN — Deshaun Davis couldn’t help but get a little jealous. Former teammates Derrick Brown, Marlon Davidson, Daniel Thomas, Jeremiah Dinson and Javaris Davis had all announced that they were coming back for their senior seasons at Auburn, and he wanted to feel the love, too.

 

“Since everybody else returning,” Davis wrote on Twitter, “I’ve sat down with my family and decided to return back to Auburn. I’ll be playing my senior-senior year & I’m absolutely fired up about it. Can’t wait to get to work.”

Davis, of course, was joking. The Cincinnati Bengals would later draft the fifth-year All-SEC senior in the sixth round of April’s NFL draft. Individually, he didn’t have anything left to accomplish on the Plains, nor did he have the eligibility to do so even if he did.

But there is one particular newcomer to the 2019 team Davis won’t be a part of that the standout middle linebacker would have liked the opportunity to line up next to — Owen Pappoe.

“I actually told him before I left, I really wish had the chance to play with him,” Davis said before the Senior Bowl in January. “He’s that type of talent.”

On paper, Pappoe certainly is. The five-star Lawrenceville, Georgia, product is Auburn’s 10th-highest-rated commitment of the modern era and second-highest-rated at linebacker, according to the 247Sports composite. He ranked No. 25 nationally in the 2019 class, No. 4 in the talent-rich state of Georgia and No. 1 at his position. He recorded 121 tackles and 14 for loss as a senior at Grayson High.

But what is more impressive than any of his rankings and titles is what Pappoe has been since he arrived on Auburn’s campus earlier this year.

“He’s come on,” head coach Gus Malzahn said. “He doesn’t act like a freshman and the moment is not too big for him. He can really run, he has really good instincts and I think he had a really good spring, especially for a freshman.”

Pappoe, an early enrollee, first made his mark in the weight room during Auburn’s offseason conditioning program. The 6-foot-1 linebacker weighed 210 points coming out of high school, was listed at 215 pounds when he signed with the Tigers and is now up to 222, according to position coach Travis Williams.

“(Strength and conditioning coach Ryan Russell) says, in all these weightlifting terms, that his joints are so good that if he really wanted to powerlift — if he started at a young age — he could be an Olympic powerlifter,” Williams said before speaking to the Montgomery Auburn Club on May 23. “They say he's probably, upper body, top five on the team. He's just one of these freakish guys — run fast, and he's strong.”

And ever since he arrived at Auburn, Pappoe has been all over Williams. “He bugs the crap out of me,” the fourth-year assistant said, and in a good way. He constantly wants to watch more film at the complex or get in an extra workout. When Williams has gone on the road to recruit, he said Pappoe will text him asking when he’s going to be back.

“All freshman do it, but it’ll fade away. You know what I’m saying? Just come up, come up, come up, and then it's like 'All right, let's give him two more weeks.' He'll start, 'Oh, I've got class, I've got this.' Man, he's up there. He's up there,” Williams said.

“He's one of those guys who is really smart and really serious about his work, serious about his craft. He's as athletic as we thought. He can be as good as he wants to be. He will play this year, for sure. He's going to play a lot.”

Auburn needs him to. Between Davis, Darrell Williams and Montavious Atkinson, the defense graduated three multiyear starters at linebacker who combined to total 231 tackles and 23 for loss last season. The Tigers return juniors K.J. Britt and Chandler Wooten and sophomore Zakoby McClain, but Travis Williams likes to play four linebackers.

With Britt and Wooten focusing on the middle spot (Mack) vacated by Davis, Pappoe is rotating with McClain at the outside spot (Money) once occupied by Darrell Williams and Atkinson.

 

Davis believes that will be of significant benefit to Auburn, even if he won’t get a chance to play with Pappoe.

“I’m not really big on the five-star thing, the No. 1 linebacker and stuff like that, but his skill set is definitely rare,” Davis said. “He’s what the game wants. He’s that speed linebacker that can go sideline to sideline, make those open-field tackles. He’s a guy that can play in the box also. He’ll help our defense be more expanded, because he can do multiple different things.

“I can tell you there’s something definitely special about that kid. I look forward to him having a great career at Auburn.”

[DAG 33,977]

Well, what does the average 5 star freshman look like? lol. Seem like 5 stars our few and far between based on positions.

[gr82be 14,423]

2 hours ago, DAG said:

Well, what does the average 5 star freshman look like? lol. Seem like 5 stars our few and far between based on positions.

Good question since we have only hit on 50% of our 10 previous 5 stars being lasting contributors.  I do think Pappoe and Nix are going to be fine but our track record has been average so if you compared to that I guess it's great news about Owen. We really didn't get any real contributions from Westerman, Ashley and Cowart. Dyer and Roc could've been a lot of help in 4 years though. Good article, looking forward to seeing him play. 

[DAG 33,977]

32 minutes ago, gr82be said:

Good question since we have only hit on 50% of our 10 previous 5 stars being lasting contributors.  I do think Pappoe and Nix are going to be fine but our track record has been average so if you compared to that I guess it's great news about Owen. We really didn't get any real contributions from Westerman, Ashley and Cowart. Dyer and Roc could've been a lot of help in 4 years though. Good article, looking forward to seeing him play. 

Yeah that is crazy with the track record of our 5 stars. Wasn't KF a 5 star as well?

[gr82be 14,423]

11 minutes ago, DAG said:

Yeah that is crazy with the track record of our 5 stars. Wasn't KF a 5 star as well?

What I saw said he was a 4. I thought the same thing too. 

[ALLINtheFamily 77]

6 hours ago, WFE12 said:

“(Strength and conditioning coach Ryan Russell) says, in all these weightlifting terms, that his joints are so good that if he really wanted to powerlift — if he started at a young age — he could be an Olympic powerlifter,” Williams said before speaking to the Montgomery Auburn Club on May 23. “They say he's probably, upper body, top five on the team. He's just one of these freakish guys — run fast, and he's strong.

Takeo Spikes clone?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AUght2win 6,833]

E X C I T E D

[cole256 17,043]

McClain is my sleeper pick but I really like this kid too, I really want both of them out there.....the range of having both of them from sideline to sideline would actually be like having a nickel back out there but the run strength of an extra linebacker

[GwillMac6 20,666]

8 hours ago, DAG said:

Well, what does the average 5 star freshman look like? lol. Seem like 5 stars our few and far between based on positions.

*lets ignore the fact he was not a FRESHMEN lol*

[JDUBB4AU 5,112]

Really excited about this young man . Freshman all American on the way 

[AUpreacherman22 3,885]

I LOVE hearing that about his attitude and work ethic!!!!

I expect him to be a starter soon, and a major team leader in year 3 (maybe even year 2).