Off The Hook Sports continues its 2022 Tennessee football preseason preview on the top 25 impact players for the Vols this upcoming season.

Coming in at No. 19 is offensive lineman Cooper Mays.

Past Performance

It was rare for Cooper Mays to take snaps at center in his time at Knoxville Catholic. He was undersized, but felt his athleticism gave him an advantage regardless. He shined in his natural position of offensive guard on the line for the Fighting Irish with his brother, Cade.

Cade originally committed to Georgia before transferring to Tennessee at the start of Cooper’s freshman season.

That transition from guard to center was a trial-by-fire experience, but it didn’t seem like it from an outside perspective. Despite being the fourth-ranked center in the class of 2020, Mays had only played one game as a true center in high school by his own admission and made an immediate impact for the Vols.

Mays started twice his freshman year, once against a ranked Florida squad. He appeared in all 10 games in a covid-shortened season under Jeremy Pruitt.

He built on his year one success too – Tennessee had truly found a serviceable piece in Mays, who started in all eight games he appeared in his sophomore season. Mays did not allow a sack in the final five games of the year for the Vols, missing mid-season clashes against Pitt, Tennessee Tech, Mizzou, South Carolina and Ole Miss.

Mays saw actin on just under 700 snaps across his two years and only allowed one sack.

Opportunities

Mays was a sneakily important cog in Tennessee’s machine on the line. His midseason injury really threw a wrench into things. Rising senior lineman Jerome Carvin and Knoxville product Ollie Lane split reps at the middle position in his absence, which was becoming more and more noticeable as the games went on. Carvin, one of the most versatile players on the line, had to shift over and lose valuable reps at guard in his stead.

Mays’ injury wasn’t the only one that plagued Tennessee’s line last season. Cade Mays missed significant time, as did guard Kingston Harris and tackle K’rojhn Calbert.

Heupel was concerned with the injury problems, too, stating “(it) felt like we weren’t as deep as we wanted to be heading into the season.”

It’s very fair to say Tennessee didn’t have many long-term solutions in case of an injury to its starting center. There’s a strong chance offensive line coach Glen Elarbee has workshopped that issue in case (or should we say, when) it happens again this season.

Because for all intents and purposes, the center job was Mays’ before spring training began. Freshman four-star signee Addison Nichols and Lane will likely retain backup positions were Mays to suffer another injury.  

Hear it from…

What’s interesting about Mays’ success at center is how far he still has to go and what he can be when he gets there.

Elarbee thinks that path to getting better won’t have to go through the leadership role. Mays has that down pat already. Instead, Mays has room to get physically bigger and develop into the force Tennessee needs him to be.

“I think he is always one to continue to get stronger, continue to build his body,” Elarbee said at spring practice. “He has taken the step leadership wise.”

Elarbee continued, saying Mays and Carvin especially have impressed him with being proactive in what they want to be taught.

“Cooper Mays is constantly in the meeting room and something happens and, before I can get something out of my mouth, him and Jerome have jumped in there and said, ‘Hey man, we need to do this,’ or, ‘Start coaching this.’” Elarbee said. “I shouldn’t say this, but sometimes they even correct me a little bit. Their leadership piece of it has been unbelievable with Cooper.”

What’s more is the interesting dynamic between Mays and his NFL-bound brother, who was recently drafted No. 199 overall to the Carolina Panthers. How will Mays react without his brother on the line beside him? After all, the Mays brothers, just two years apart, have been on the same team for a pretty large chunk of their lives from Catholic to Tennessee. It’s hard to imagine that drastically changing the Cooper Mays that suited up for the Vols last season. Mays, barring injury, has nowhere to go but up for the Vols in his final three years of eligibility.