Record-setting QB from Iredell County reminds one area coach of Favre, Manziel

A.L. Brown High football coach Mike Newsome has coached with and against some of the best quarterbacks in N.C. history.

While at Butler, Newsome said he marveled at the tight spirals former Independence High star Chris Leak would toss in warm-ups. Leak was the national high school player of the year in 2003.

Newsome later coached an All-American at Butler, Christian LeMay, who helped turn the Bulldogs into a regional power.

Last week, Newsome’s team from Kannapolis lost to South Iredell and 6-foot-3, 190-pound senior quarterback Brady Pope.

Pope, who has committed to play for coach Brad Lambert’s Charlotte 49ers, completed 30 of 49 passes for 344 yards and five touchdowns in a 41-21 win against the Wonders. Newsome recalled Pope turning what looked like bad plays into good ones.

Once, Newsome began to celebrate what appeared to be a drive-stopping sack, when Pope shed two defenders, moved up a few steps and threw a side-arm pass to the back of the end zone for a touchdown.

“When I watched him, I thought of (2012 Heisman Trophy winner Johnny) Manziel. And (Hall of Famer)Brett Favre,” Newsome said. “(Pope) can just really create plays. You think the defense has done a great job and, all of a sudden, he makes an unbelievable play that puts the offense in a great position. I just like his competitive nature.”

Pope has led South Iredell (11-2) into Friday’s N.C. 3AA quarterfinal against Asheville Reynolds (12-1). He and the Vikings are trying to reach their first regional final since 2012, when the school won a state championship. And Pope is trying to polish off one of the best careers in state public school history.

He’s thrown for 3,766 yards and 42 touchowns this season. And his 10,338 career yards and 111 career touchdown passes rank in the top 10 all-time among N.C. High School Athletic Association players.

“He’s having a great year,” South Iredell coach Scott Miller said of Pope. “He’s getting close to 4,000 yards this year and he’s over 10,000 for his career and he’s a great leader, too. He’s coachable. He doesn’t make the same mistake twice and his competitive nature is unlike any I’ve ever seen.”

Miller became head coach at South Iredell in 2010. At the time, the Vikings had one winning season in 15 years. But Miller’s first team went 11-1. And the summer before the 2011 season, Miller saw a sixth-grade quarterback who caught his attention.

“I saw (Pope) play in sixth grade and I could tell back then that he was head and shoulders above everybody,” Miller said. “It was just the way he carried himself, and he didn’t seem to panic. I remember, he was rolling around, and most kids will panic (when the defense closes in), but he was a kid in sixth grade that kept his head up the whole time and kept looking to throw the ball.

“And you could tell he was a true quarterback and not an athlete playing quarterback.”

Friday night, Pope and South Iredell will face another dominant quarterback.

Asheville Reynolds junior Alex Flinn, a first-year starter, has thrown for 3,197 yards and 39 touchdowns under the tutelage of former NFL and college assistant John Shoop. Shoop took a job as a history teacher at Reynolds over the summer. He followed his his wife, Marcia, who became pastor at an Asheville-area Presbyterian church.

Shoop coached more than 20 years in the NFL and college football, including with the Carolina Panthers and the North Carolina Tar Heels. At Reynolds, he helped transform the offense for coach Shane Laws.

A year ago, for example, Reynolds starting quarterback Nathan St. Onge threw for 1,903 yards and 21 touchdowns. Flinn was the backup. Now, St. Onge leads the team in receiving (945 yards, 12 touchdowns) and Reynolds’ per game scoring is up to nearly 44 points from 40 last season.

Reynolds is also back in the third round of the playoffs.

But the Rockets, who lost 29-8 to 2A power Shelby in August, haven’t faced too many quarterbacks like Pope.

“He can sling it,” Miller said. “A lot of people don’t think he can run, but when he needs to, he can tuck it and run it, too.”

Pope said he hopes to win two more games and get to the state championship, but also he’s kept a close eye on the Charlotte 49ers, who are 1-10 this season. Pope said -- after this season ends -- he can’t wait to join them.

“I want to be a part of that program when they get their first conference championship,” he said of Charlotte, which is in its fifth season. “Me and my dad, we talk about it all the time. They’re struggling, but it’s not like they’re losing bad. I just want to come in and be that guy to lead them.”

Newsome, the A.L. Brown coach, says the 49ers are getting a potentially outstanding college player.

“He’s one of the better quarterbacks I’ve seen,” Newsome said. “He’s not that prototypical guy you look at and say, ‘This kid makes a 5-step drop and fires the ball to an open receiver.’ That may be why some of the quarterback gurus that look at him may not think he’s a great quarterback.

“But he’s a lot like a Brett Fave, a guy that just does whatever it takes to be successful. ...I always like quarterbacks that seem to want the ball in their hands, and not a guy scared to make a play. He’s not. He’s one of the guys who’s like, ‘Give me the ball and I’ll help make us win.’”

This story was originally published November 23, 2017 at 1:33 PM with the headline "Record-setting QB from Iredell County reminds one area coach of Favre, Manziel."