Tennessee football: SEC finally clears Cade Mays

The Southeastern Conference cleared the Tennessee football Volunteers offensive lineman.

Without explicitly naming him, the SEC made an announcement that should finally clear Tennessee football offensive lineman Cade Mays to play. Mays was waiting for conference approval after getting an eligibility waiver from the NCAA.

Greg Sankey announced that due to the pandemic, the league approved “a number of” waiver requests involving transfers within the conference. This is an exception to the rule that requires players who aren’t graduate transfer so sit out a year if they transfer within the conference.

Mays, a junior, transferred to Tennessee football from the Georgia Bulldogs this past winter. Brent Hubbs of VolQuest reported that it means Mays is eligible, and he said that this came as a result of a Monday vote by university presidents to allow transfers from within the conference to be eligible immediately this year.

Now, the Vols are loaded on the offensive line. Trey Smith is a potential All-American, Wanya Morris and Darnell Wright are emerging sophomores at tackle, and Brandon Kennedy is a veteran at center. By adding Mays, everybody on UT’s offensive line was either a five-star, a freshman All-American, an All-SEC starter or is a sixth-year senior.

At 6’6″ 320 pounds, Mays was initially committed to UT back in 2017 as a five-star but decommitted and went to Georgia amidst the Butch Jones disaster. However, amidst a Freshman All-American season and two years starting, his brother, Cooper Mays, committed to Rocky Top. His father, Kevin Mays, played for UT in the 1990s and was locked in a lawsuit with UGA.

Against that backdrop, the graduate of Knoxville Catholic decided to transfer to the Vols. He was initially denied his eligibility waiver from the NCAA, but he won his appeal earlier this month. All that was left was winning the SEC appeal.

There’s a strong likelihood Tennessee football immediately starts Mays at guard this week alongside Smith. As a result, this is a huge deal, and the offensive line that was already a strength for UT may have gotten stronger.