KNOXVILLE — Tennessee kicked off fall training camp Monday ahead of the 2020 season.
Following practice, third-year Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt met with media and announced that offensive lineman Cade Mays had his request to play immediately denied.
Mays transferred from Georgia to Tennessee in January and will need an NCAA waiver to play immediately during the 2020 season. Tennessee will appeal the NCAA’s decision to not grant Mays an immediate waiver to play.
“We obviously applied for a waiver for initial eligibility here, it was denied,” Pruitt said. “We’re in the process of appealing that. For me, it is frustrating as it is for Cade. Just looking at it for his sake – I think he was a really good player at Georgia. I don’t know how he did there, but from playing against him, I thought he was one of the better players in the league. I thought he played the right way.
“The circumstances surrounding him and his family are something he had no control over. When you look at a young man, once he transfers, going through the process of if he’s going to be eligible, there’s a lot that goes into that. He’s sitting there with this case looming. Does that affect where he goes on the depth chart? Does that affect anything that goes on around him? It’s an unusual circumstance.”
Pruitt is a former student-athlete that transferred from Middle Tennessee State to Alabama during his collegiate playing career. He discussed his experience and being in favor of a one-time transfer for each student-athlete.
“I’m a transfer myself,” Pruitt said. “There’s a period of about 10 weeks where I didn’t know whether or not that I was going to be eligible. I thought about those 10 weeks when we got this denial. It’s just a lot of uncertainty there. I hate it for him. I hate it for every young man and woman out there that wants to transfer. I’m in favor of the one-time transfer.
“My question is, ‘Why should we stand in the way of a young man or woman trying to figure out what the right place for them is?’ Right now that’s not the rule. I hope that eventually that will be the rule. I know for everybody that has transferred from our place, I have written a letter for recommendation to the NCAA that requested they be approved for immediate eligibility. So I know it’s frustrating for Cade. It’s frustrating for our team.”
The 6-foot-6, 328-pound Mays competed in 25 games for the Bulldogs (2018-19), starting 18 contests.
In 2019, Mays started six games at right guard, two at right tackle, two at left guard and at left tackle in the Sugar Bowl.