Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel was non committal about starting center Cooper Mays status for Saturday’s season opener against Virginia making the senior offensive lineman questionable.
“You guys know, you’ve been here, we kind of make those decisions on Friday,” Heupel said on Mays’ status. “We still have one practice left so we’ll make all those decisions tomorrow.
Mays underwent a “minor procedure” on Aug. 9 and while Heupel said at the time that Tennessee was hopeful Mays would be available for the Virginia game there haven’t been any guarantees.
Mays has been the centerpiece of Tennessee’s offensive line for the entirety of the Huepel era. The Knoxville native was the Vols starting center for each of the last two seasons, missing five games due to injury in 2021 before a fully healthy 2022 season.
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Ollie Lane and Dayne Davis are listed as Tennessee’s co-backup centers on its official depth chart. During open portion of practices this fall, Lane worked as the first team center more than anyone else once Mays went down.
Lane is in line to start at left guard in his super senior season but is capable of sliding over to center. Davis has almost exclusively played offensive tackle during his Tennessee tenure but started working at center during fall camp.
Tennessee defensive tackle Elijah Simmons is out for the season opener but all other Vols are expected to be available against the Cavaliers.
Virginia football is down one key starter for the season opener as returning sack leader Chico Bennett Jr. is out for the non conference matchup.
Kickoff from Nissan Stadium in Nashville is at noon ET Saturday. Joe Tessitore, Jesse Palmer and Katie George are on the call for ABC.
