KNOXVILLE — With nine days until the start of the 2020 football season for Tennessee, Vols’ head coach Jeremy Pruitt announced that Georgia transfer offensive lineman Cade Mays has been granted immediate eligibility by the NCAA.
Mays was originally denied eligibility by the NCAA. He still needs approval from the Southeastern Conference to be able to play in 2020.
“Today we heard back from the NCAA, they approved Cade’s appeal,” Pruitt said on a Zoom call with reporters Thursday. “This has always been a two-step process. The next thing is the SEC. It’s good that our governing body decided to allow him to play. Now, we go to the SEC.”
Pruitt mentioned that he has “not really had a chance” to talk with SEC commissioner Greg Sankey about Mays receiving approval.
“I know this, in this whole thing from this pandemic, Greg Sankey has done a great job from a leadership standpoint with everybody within the conference and his No. 1 thing has always been the protection of the players and putting our student-athletes first,” Pruitt said. “I have a lot of confidence in the outcome.”
The 6-foot-6, 328-pound Mays competed in 25 games for Georgia (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.