To many fans, the rivalry between Tennessee football and the Florida Gators is stuck in a time and place. People following the Vols from 1990 to roughly 2006 remember it, and it’s irrelevant to people afterward.
That would apply to the players on the team as well, who have seen nothing but total domination by Florida over the years. However, Cooper Mays understands it.
The son of offensive lineman Kevin Mays, who was on the Vols from 1990 to 1994, Cooper Mays has grown up knowing the game’s importance. However, even he noted that this week is hitting differently.
“You don’t really realize it until it kind of hits you in the face, but this is a huge game,” he said. “I’m very blessed to play in it, and I definitely would love nothing more than to get a win.”
Mays said his first real football memory is the year Lane Kiffin’s Vols went into Gainesville and lost 23-13 Tim Tebow’s senior year. He would have been eight years old at the time.
That game was newsworthy because of all the offseason talk Kiffin directed at Urban Meyer. However, a famous collision between Tim Tebow and Eric Berry is what stood out to Mays.
“I remember that big hit that happened down in the red zone,” he said. “That was probably the first time I ever remember seeing something vividly in my mind about it.”
Of course, as it would be for anybody Mays’ age who has grown up a fan of the Vols, he said his favorite memory was the 2016 game. That one ended their 11-game losing streak in the series.
UT started that one down 21-0. Ironically, since College GameDay is heading to town this week, that was the last time GameDay was in Knoxville too.
“We battled back and ended up winning the game,” he said. “That’s probably my favorite Tennessee-Florida memory.”
Because of this, Mays is probably more hungry than most on the Vols to score a win over Florida this week. He understands on a deeper level what it means.
Given the limited success Tennessee football has had in recent years, it would be a huge win anyway. To this point, Mays said the biggest win of his football playing career was two weeks again at the Pittsburgh Panthers.
“It had a really special impact on me because, me being a Tennessee fan, games like that, I feel like, in the past have sometimes not really gone our way, and you know, when it gets down into spots like that, it sometimes doesn’t go our way,” he said. “So just for us to pull one out on the road against a big-time opponent with a game that went down to the wire, that’s probably one of our favorite memories.”
Still, Mays didn’t hide the fact that beating Florida would be bigger for him personally.
“I think this would be a huge win,” he said. “It would be a quick turnaround to have a different favorite game, but this is a big one for sure.”
When it comes to approaching the game, though, Mays is clearly trying to reflect Josh Heupel’s mentality and stay relaxed. The hard part is understanding that it’s the biggest game because it’s the next game.
However, as Mays said, Tennessee football can’t worry about the game until they properly prepare for the game. That’s what this week is about.
“It starts with staying focused on the task at hand,” he said. “You can’t worry about Saturday before you worry about Tuesday.”
