Newcomer Profile: Cooper Mays
When Jeremy Pruitt arrived in Knoxville, Tennessee needed an enormous amount of work. The Vols had serious issues in position groups all over the field, but perhaps no group was in more dire need of attention than the offensive line. In Pruitt’s first season on Rocky Top he was able to add a few pieces to the line, but one of the biggest was graduate transfer Brandon Kennedy, who looked to add stability in the middle of the line and form a stout duo with Trey Smith. Then, Kennedy was lost for the year in the season opener, and Smith halfway through the season due to illness, as the 2018 offensive line for the Vols was one of the worst in the nation. A season later, in 2019, the line was bolstered by a pair of five-star freshman tackles, a healthy Kennedy, a healthy Smith, and players from Pruitt’s first class playing larger roles. Tennessee’s line took a leap forward, and it became one of the strengths of the team. In the 2020 recruiting class, Jeremy Pruitt again focused on the offensive line on the offensive line. Kennedy and Smith each return for the Vols, as do Wanya Morris and Darnell Wright at tackle. Tennessee also added transfer Cade Mays to the mix from Georgia. Beyond the starters, though, Pruitt managed to also build depth in the offensive line with players like Jerome Carvin, Jahmir Johnson, Jackson Lampley, Chris Akporoghene, and K’Rojhn Calbert. That is effectively Tennessee’s offensive line rebuilt in two full seasons. With all the transfers and medical retirements in the group Pruitt had to navigate, in two seasons he has what looks to be one of the best offensive lines in the nation going into 2020, a group with talent and quality depth. However, Pruitt and offensive line coach Will Friend are looking to the future of this group as well. They did the work to rebuild it to an elite level, and now the goal is to maintain that level. One of the players that looks to be most important in that next phase for Tennessee is 2020 offensive lineman Cooper Mays, a four-star product out of Knoxville Catholic High School.
Cooper Mays was one of Tennessee’s earlier commitments in the 2020 class, giving his pledge to the Vols on June 21, 2019. That early commitment, and the fact that Mays never backed off from it, played major roles in Tennessee’s 2020 class. It is important to mention that Cooper Mays was one of the most important players in the recruiting cycle, and not just because he is four-star, legacy, center that played his high school ball in Knoxville. As much as all of that rang true, Mays was and continues to be so important for the Vols as a peer recruiter. When interviewing other players in the 2020 class, Cooper Mays might just be the most mentioned name by them as a player that helped recruit them to Tennessee. When the Vols struggled out of the gate to an abysmal 1-4 start, Mays not only stayed true to his pledge, he continued to publicly support the Vols and actively recruit other players to come play with him. In the past, in difficult seasons, Tennessee had lost high profile commitments to other programs, one of the most notable was Cooper’s older brother Cade, who ultimately went to Georgia. Rather than leave, Mays remained, and became one of the leaders of his class before he had ever played a snap for Tennessee. His attitude mirrored that of the Tennessee team in the 2019 season, as the Vols stayed the course and lost only once more after that 1-4 start to end the season 8-5 on a 6-game winning streak. For a fanbase that had seen so many things go against them, Mays staying with the Vols, signing early, and enrolling early, was good news for Tennessee. It represented something going right that had so often gone wrong in the past. Mays himself very much mirrored what happened on the field for Tennessee.
For all that he brings off the field, and that is substantial, Cooper Mays is one of the best centers in the 2020 class, and he brings Tennessee an important building block on the offensive line going forward. Mays is six foot three inches tall, right at three hundred pounds. Earlier in the season he was playing at around two hundred eighty to two hundred eighty-five pounds. The ability to add weight to his frame was an important goal for the Tennessee staff, who have shown a clear preference for larger linemen in the system that they have installed. Getting near or up to three hundred pounds means that Mays has the ideal size the Vols want for a center, while maintaining his athleticism and quickness that make him so unique at the position. Make no mistake, Mays is a true athlete at the center position. While he played along the defensive line at Knox Catholic, and was good enough there to warrant serious talk of getting a look along the defensive front for the Vols, and played significant snaps at guard as well, center is where Mays comes into his own as a special talent. He has the quickness and athleticism to be a pulling center, a skill that is exceptionally difficult and extremely valuable as an asset in play design. Mays is also fast enough to snap the ball and get out to serve as a lead blocker on screen passes designed to go wide. If he gets to the edge with no one to block, Mays is fast enough to get up the field in front of a back or receiver and neutralize defenders at the second and third level. He also shows this ability on tape in more conventional blocking schemes where he may help double team a defensive tackle, release, and get to the second level and block a linebacker. It is his athletic ability and his talent for moving so well in space that Mays has built his game around thus far. Cooper’s head coach at Knoxville Catholic, Steve Matthews said, “The thing that stands out with him (Mays) is his athleticism. He has extremely quick feet and burst at 6’3” and 280 pounds. I’ve had several coaches tell me he is one of, if not the top, linemen in the country.”
As much as Mays has the calling card of his game being his athleticism, he added the size as a senior, and has continued to add it since graduating, that has made him a different animal. As Coach Matthews noted, “He added about 30 pounds in the off-season, which sent him into another level in the recruiting process, but Coach Pruitt liked him from the start. He thought he was a key ingredient to building the Tennessee program.” The thirty pounds Matthews referenced came before the 2019 season, but now Mays has continued to add muscle mass beyond that to his frame. The added size while still playing and moving well at three hundred pounds makes Mays a linemen that is cut from the mold Pruitt covets. When he pushed for the immediate rebuild of the offensive line, one of the initial and priority pieces for Pruitt was a center in this very mold in Brandon Kennedy. As he begins to lay the foundation for the continued success of the line at a high level, Pruitt again chose to prioritize and build with a center. Like Kennedy, Mays has the size for Tennessee’s system, as well as exceptional athleticism. However, Mays also mirrors Kennedy with his intangibles. Mays is an intelligent young man with a high football IQ, and that is invaluable in a center. Mays is bright enough to make the correct protection calls, but he is also enough of a leader that his teammates will trust his judgement. He is the kind of player, like Kennedy, that a line can gel around. Also, like Kennedy, Mays brings a toughness and nastiness into the interior of the trenches. Mays played much of his senior year hampered with knee issues that caused him tremendous pain. Though there were times it was difficult for him to stand, Mays played through the pain for much of the season, showing a warrior mindset and a toughness that earned him the respect of his teammates at Knoxville Catholic and has already earned respect from many of his new teammates in Knoxville. Those intangibles are part of what makes Cooper the, “Key ingredient,” in Pruitt’s eyes.
Mays is an early enrollee for the 2020 class, so he will be able to go through spring football with the team, get into the weight and conditioning program early, and start learning the playbook and line calls ahead of schedule. He also has the opportunity to have the UT medical team help him with his knees, which they feel, should not have any long-term issues going forward. Mays has been one of the leaders for the Vols because he came into the class so early and was entirely committed. Now, he has the chance to learn the ropes of being an SEC offensive lineman and learn the playbook early, and to go through that process with who he is likely to be snapping it to for the next few years in Harrison Bailey. When the rest of the Tennessee class begins to arrive on campus, Mays is going to already be comfortable with the Vols, allowing him to again, slide into that role as a leader on and off the field immediately with his classmates. The Vols return what could be one of the best offensive lines in the nation going into 2020, and they have good depth as well. Mays is unlikely to see a large amount of action in his true freshman campaign barring injuries, but with Kennedy departing after the season, he will have a substantial role for Tennessee in multiple seasons to follow.