Cade Mays denied immediate-eligibility, Vols appealing decision

Tennessee junior offensive lineman Cade Mays has been denied immediate-eligibility by the NCAA, head coach Jeremy Pruitt announced Monday evening. UT is appealing the decision.

“We obviously applied for a waiver for (immediate) eligibility here and it was denied,” Pruitt said. “We’re in the process of appealing that. For me, it is frustrating. It’s frustrating to me, for Cade.

“Just my question is: Why should we stand in the way of a young man or woman trying to figure out where the right place for them is? Right now, that’s not the rule. I hope that eventually that will be the rule… I know everybody that has transferred from our place, I have written a letter of recommendation for them to the NCAA that requested that they be approved for immediate eligibility. I know it’s frustrating for Cade, and it’s frustrating for our team.”

Mays joined his little brother, Cooper, on campus for the spring semester after Tennessee officially announced the addition of the oldest Mays brother on Jan. 9. The younger Mays brother signed with the Vols during the early signing period as a four-star center out of Knoxville Catholic High School. Cade Mays played at Knoxville Catholic as well, but signed with Georgia out of high school following the firing of Butch Jones. Mays was once committed to the Vols but decommitted prior to Jones’ firing.

“You guys know me,” Pruitt said. “I’m a transfer myself. I think back to when I transferred, there was a period of about 10 weeks where I didn’t know whether or not I was going to be eligible. I thought about those 10 weeks when we got this denial. There’s a lot of uncertainty there. I hate it for him.”

Mays was ranked the No. 22 overall player in the class of 2018 according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. He was considered the No. 1 player in the state of Tennessee and the No. 3 offensive tackle in the country.

At Georgia, Mays started six games at right guard, two at right tackle, two at left guard, and one at left tackle as a sophomore this past season, and he even played at center in the Bulldogs’ match-up with Missouri. Mays played in all 14 games this season after playing in 11 of 14 games as a true freshman a season ago. He was named to the coaches’ All-SEC Freshman team in 2018 and was a Freshman All-American as well.

Cade and Cooper’s father, Kevin Mays, played for Tennessee from 1991-1994. He was an All-SEC guard and offensive captain in 1994.

The Mays family is suing Georgia and a chair manufacturing company after Kevin Mays’ pinky finger had to be amputated following an incident at an UGA athletic event. Cade Mays’ lawyer at the time, Tom Mars, who was also serving as the families’ lawyer, felt confident that Cade Mays would be able to play right away.

“I can go on the record saying that I’m Cade’s lawyer and that, based on my investigation of the facts and circumstances, I’m confident Cade won’t have to sit out a year after he transfers,” Mars told the Atlanta Journal Constitution at the time.