Vol Club Confidential: Cooper Mays

When former 5-star Cade Mays signed with Georgia in December of 2017, his younger brother Cooper Mays was just a sophomore at Knoxville Catholic. The younger Mays was thrown for a loop because he thought they would line up wearing orange in following with the family heritage on Rocky Top. In this week’s episode of Vol Club Confidential, Mays went into detail about that time in his life.

“It tore me a different way because I just always wanted to play with my brother,” Mays said. “Had Cade went to UCLA I’d have been let’s go Bruins. That flipped things up for me so I was like let’s go Georgia because they were my second offer after my freshman year. I really did like them and I was going to go there had Cade stayed but they recruited me pretty hard for about another year or two. Right after my junior year of high school, I was like 240 and it wasn’t looking great for college recruiter that didn’t know me. They kind of pulled back on me and didn’t recruit me for a couple of months. Pruitt told me it didn’t matter if I was 240 or 290, they wanted Cooper Mays on their football team so that said something for me. I’m built that way. If you turn on me once, that’s not my gig. I was turned back to Tennessee.”

Big brother would return to Tennessee shortly after Cooper signed and became an early enrollee. He said he wasn’t sure how everything was going to unfold when Cade transferred back home.

“I kind of knew Tennessee fans would jump back on the train but some would be like I don’t want any of the Mays brothers here,” Mays said with a laugh. “People hated me for it and I was like whatever because I think that is pretty harsh. Some people hopped back on the Mays train and some people didn’t but I think it’s turned out well. As much as some people want to be upset, I didn’t we have done pretty well for this university.”

Mays arrived on campus playing a jumbo tight end to get more help in the running game. Three years starting at Center later and he is soaking it all up.

“It’s really went by faster than I thought it would,” Mays said. “It’s really been a great experience. I came into college and if you had told me all the stuff that happened and how it all went down, I’d have told you that you were crazy and no way but it’s been a really great experience. I’ve got to watch my little brother grow up and play with my older brother. Got my first start right beside him and it’s been a really beautiful journey.”

Cooper has learned to lead

Mays has been really close with an older group of players that have all moved on which means he’s in a different role this season.

“It’s been a really different experience,” Mays said. “The whole year I’ve been trying to find my role and I think I struggled with that at first. I’ve always been the little brother always my whole life. I’ve always had Cade to look up to and when I got into the offensive line room here everyone already knew me and took me in as their little brother. Trey (Smith), Jerome (Carvin), Brandon Kennedy, they all took me in so I was always playing that role. Then now I’m the old guy and I struggled with it at first but I’ve grown to like it.”

And learning to be an older veteran leader, is something that Mays spoke with offensive line coach Glen Elarbee about just a few months ago.

“We had this night during the summer at the stadium and I was just sitting there talking to Elarbee about it,” Mays said. “Just putting it all into perspective and how far we have come. We got in to it and he said everyone encounters that later in their career and it’s natural. You grow with it and feel it out. It’s worked out for the best.”

Mays had to miss the first four games of the season after having triple hernia surgery and an abdominal wall repair back in August. Missing that time has allowed him to be fresher, bigger, and stronger later into the year.

“The difference this year is I’ve stayed above 300-305 pounds,” Mays said. “Normally I haven’t been able to do. I think it’s showed up in my strength. I’m still trying to get back on my feet and where I want to be but it’s been a good start of the season.

“It’s kind of like a double edge sword because I didn’t get to prepare like I want to in a sense but in another sense I feel way more fresh later in the season. There have been good and bad parts to missing that time.”