Cooper Mays a game-time decision, Gerald Mincey will play for Tennessee, per Josh Heupel

On Thursday, Tennessee head coach Jush Heupel provided the latest updates on a pair of Volunteer offensive linemen: Cooper Mays and Gerald Mincey.

According to Eric Cain of On3’s Volquest, Heupel said that Mays, the team’s starting center, will be a game-time decision again this weekend vs. UTSA while fellow O-lineman Gerald Mincey will be active. Here was that report from Cain:

“#Vols HC Josh Heupel says OL Cooper Mays is a game-time decision and OL Gerald Mincey will play on Saturday.”

Mays was a game-time decision in the Florida game last week and the team certainly could have used him as the offense floundered in The Swamp. Now, they’ll hope he returns this week while Mincey is also an important addition to the lineup after his recent off-field trouble.

More on Mincey, Tennessee OL vs. Florida

New details emerged the other day in the citation of Tennessee offensive lineman Gerald Mincey for simple possession.

It was during a traffic stop when Mincey was cited for possessing 8.57 grams of marijuana, per Knox News. That’s an amount that would be considered for personal consumption by the state of Tennessee. The incident itself occurred at 11:12 p.m. on Sept. 14th. Mincey was stopped by UTPD while driving his 2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee on campus. He was cited for misdemeanor simple possession and casual exchange.

The term simple possession in Tennessee refers to an individual being in possession of a controlled substance. In this case, that substance was marijuana. Simple possession also means it was in an amount generally for personal use.

News of the citation was first made known by the 60-day UT crime logs.

Gerald Mincey did travel with the team to Gainesville, where Tennessee lost to Florida by a score of 29-16. He was originally expected to play for the offensive line in the game but didn’t get into the game, except for some action on special teams. Instead, JJ Crawford took snaps that he could have gotten.

There were times when the Tennessee offensive line struggled in the game against Florida. On top of that, with center Cooper Mays banged up, depth was an issue for Tennessee, making Gerald Mincey’s absence from the game more noticeable.

Prior to the game, Mincey was seen talking to some of the Florida players, seemingly having a good time. A transfer from Florida, the game was a kind of homecoming for the big tackle. He was a three-star recruit in the 2020 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Rankings when he first went to Florida.

Mincey did see significant playing time in Tennessee’s first two games. He had 75 snaps in those first two games, splitting his time at either tackle position.

Coming into the 2023 season, Gerald Mincey was expected to have a big season and was named to the 2024 Reese’s Senior Bowl watchlist.