In 2004, Kendyll Pope had NFL dreams. His tackling ability and nose for the football made him one of former FSU defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews' favorite linebackers. Pope even says, as far as he knows, he's the only FSU defensive player to be pulled out of a play in practice for something he did "right".

Pope was a force at Florida State and once the 2004 season ended, the scouts came calling. But while he was working out for the scouts during FSU's pro day, Pope pulled a hip flexor and never quite recovered. He fell to the fourth round of the 2004 NFL draft and was picked by the Indianapolis Colts - a dream scenario for the former Seminole.

"In the NFL, everyone can run fast, hit hard, jump high. In the NFL, it's more mental," Pope said. "Once leaving Florida State, I knew the game good, but once I got around Peyton (Manning), Edgerrin James, and Marvin Harrison, I'm going against those guys in practice everyday. I'm here going against Peyton who's a coach on the field. That's the one thing I learned from there. It's 25 percent physical, 75 percent mental. You can learn so much by watching film and studying."

But Pope's NFL dream only lasted two years. His hip flexor never got better and he was suspended for the 2005 season for violating the league's substance abuse policy.

For the next few years, Pope worked in an office for an attorney filing papers, but realized that he wanted to get back on the field. So a couple of years ago, he took an assistant coaching job at Fort White High School in Columbia County. He did that for a year, then headed back to Miami. But after two more years of working in an office, Pope realized that his love for football was just too much. So he took a gamble and went back to Fort White where he is entering his second season as the outside linebackers coach. Pope lives at home with family and commutes back and forth from Gainesville, but is loving life again. It hasn't been this good for the former 'Nole for a long time.

"I love the game. I had my ups and downs throughout my career but this is my path to take from what I learned from Coach (Mickey) Andrews, (Bobby) Bowden, and Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy and pass it on," he sid. "It was some unfortunate things that happened that I couldn't play anymore.

"It's fun because I think some of the other coaches get jealous. The one thing about playing football is that I can show a guy - I can draw it up on a chalkboard. I can say, 'This is what I want when we are in Cover 3, shed the blocker, etc.' That's one of the things that'll be a plus for me in my coaching career is that I played the game with some of the greatest players and coaches and learned the game of football."

Coaching linebackers is one thing, but does Pope want to be in charge of a team one day?

"I've been toying with that. Do I want to be a head coach or do I want to be a defensive coordinator? I'm 30 now. Eventually, the older I get, when I get to 50 I'll be ready to be a head coach. When I'm a head coach, I want to be like Coach "B" (Bowden), have my soldiers do all the work. Right now, it's more fun being an outside 'backer coach. It's not that much pressure. It's a lot of fun out here with the high school kids."

It brings Pope back to his high school days when he was deciding between Florida State and Florida. The lifelong Seminole fan says he always knew where he would end up, but he wanted the Gator nation to think they still had a chance.

"The day I decided to go to FSU I had a bet with someone. It was when they played Florida in Doak my senior year of high school. I said whoever wins, I'm going there. I knew FSU was going to win. I was trying to give a Gator fan some love, some false hope, because I was from the area. Even if Florida State lost ... but we know what happened.

"I remember Coach (Jim) Gladden when he came in with his snakeskin boots on. He was a hipster. Coach Bowden came in to sit in with me, I thought, this is real, Coach Bowden is sitting in my house. It was an unbelievable feeling. He was the star-studded event, we laid it out. My stepmother cooked up a meal for him."

Pope has fond memories of playing at Florida State like his relationship with former linebackers coach Kevin Steele. His love for Bobby Bowden and his fondness for whatever Coach Gladden was wearing at any particular time. But his love for Mickey Andrews was above and beyond anyone he had met at Florida State, even if Mickey was chewing him out.

"I love Mickey to death, that's one guy I would go to battle for any day," Pope said. "Coach Andrews is a good guy. He wants the best out of his players. He's going to ride you but he wants the best out of you.

"We were playing Maryland at Maryland. I got an interception and I ran to the sideline with the ball and he was like 'take the ball back to the ref you so and so!' I was like, 'coach, I just got an interception, we got the ball back.' So I handed it to the ref and he came to the bench and said, that-a-baby, I knew you had it in you. At the end of the day it's all love."