Once beloved as UGA rising star, Cade Mays returns wearing the orange of an SEC rival
Few things can spice up the already intense week-to-week rivalries in the SEC. Only something really crazy could further stoke the conference’s passionate flames.
Something like, say, a former five-star offensive lineman transferring within the same division after alleging a toxic environment at his first school — something like his parents suing that school after the player’s father lost a finger on a recruiting trip.
Sound familiar? That’s because it’s the situation Georgia, Tennessee and Cade Mays found themselves in this year. And now the Bulldogs and Vols face off in this weekend in Athens in a nationally televised game on CBS.
Mays returns to Athens as a Tennessee Volunteer months after transferring from Georgia. His waiver to be immediately eligible, at first denied by the NCAA, recently got approved following an appeal. The Knoxville native made his Tennessee debut last Saturday against Missouri, starting at right tackle.
“Cade is a big addition to the group, to the family,” Tennessee running back Eric Gray said after the game. “We are grateful to see him back in orange, where he’s supposed to be.”
That last sentence comes as a point of contention for Georgia fans who saw Mays start 18 games over the past two seasons. He very likely would have been in line for a 2020 starting spot on the Bulldogs front.
Then, on Jan. 8, a week after he started at left tackle in place of future first-round pick Andrew Thomas in the Sugar Bowl, Mays entered the transfer portal. At the time of that game, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said he had no indication that Mays was considering a transfer.
Why did Cade Mays leave Georgia?
It emerged that Mays was heading to Tennessee, where father Kevin played. In this winding saga, the elder Mays also factors into the transfer drama.
A lawsuit filed by the Mays family in December against the University System of Georgia Board of Regents and the University of Georgia Athletic Association, among others, became public as Mays entered the portal.
According to the lawsuit, Mays and his younger brother Cooper attended a Georgia recruiting event with their parents in December 2017. While there, Kevin Mays’ right pinky got caught between a folding chair and a support column and was severed. The finger could not be reattached.
The suit, which sought $3.5 million in damages, alleged that Mays’ father suffered pain and decreased use of his hand after the incident, incurred medical expenses and lost income.
Citing those circumstances, Mays applied for a waiver to be immediately eligible at Tennessee. On Aug. 17, the NCAA denied the request. Mays and his attorney appealed that decision.
Volunteers head coach Jeremy Pruitt, who as a player transferred from Middle Tennessee State to Alabama, seemed to speak in favor of allowing players to transfer once without penalty. It’s not up to him or anyone else to interpret players’ motives for transferring schools, he said. If a player decides to leave a program he or she chose out of high school, he said, there had to be a valid reason.
“As coaches, we have the opportunity at any point in time to choose if we want to go take another job,” Pruitt said on Sept. 23. “Everybody has that opportunity. There’s no penalty for coaches. Why should there be one for student-athletes?”
Pruitt has also implied that Mays didn’t have the best environment around him at Georgia. Smart responded to those comments Monday.
“I know coaches in the SEC will do anything they can to get guys eligible, and that’s their decision,” Smart said.
Mays’ attorney, Gregory P. Isaacs, called the environment at Georgia “toxic” in his appeal of the waiver denial. Mays won the appeal, clearing the way for his debut last week against Missouri.
Mays returns, now part of Tennessee football
Now Mays will be back in Athens, the place he originally chose over his father’s alma mater out of Knoxville Catholic High School. Once a beloved lineman, he now returns wearing the orange of a Bulldog enemy.
“Got a lot of respect for Cade as a player and a person,” Smart said Monday. “That’s all I can say about it. He’s no longer with us, so looking forward to the matchup. He’s a really good football player, one of the toughest players that I’ve been around.”
For his former teammates, a familiar face will be lining up on the other side of the ball. Senior defensive lineman Malik Herring said it will “be like the old times in practice.”
Ever since Mays announced his decision to transfer, Bulldog players have seemed to have his back.
“You can’t shake your head at the kid for wanting to do what he felt was best for himself and his family,” senior offensive lineman Ben Cleveland said. “That’s what everybody on the team here wants because once you’re part of the family, we want what’s best for you and what’s best for your family. That’s what he felt was best for him and his family, so I feel like we stood behind him as his teammates as he went on that journey.”
That being said, Cleveland and other Bulldogs over recent weeks have said they haven’t experienced any kind of toxic environment during their time at Georgia.
Mays wears No. 68 for the Vols. His brother Cooper, also an offensive lineman, wears 63.
Whatever Mays felt about his surroundings in the previous two years, he returns to what will surely be a hostile environment come Saturday afternoon. The saga of Mays’ transfer, the lawsuit, the severed pinky and the off-then-on waiver will finally come to a head between the hedges.
In a league full of blood feuds, the Georgia-Tennessee rivalry just got ratcheted up a notch.
No. 3 Georgia (2-0) vs No. 12 Tennessee (2-0)
When: 3:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Athens (Sanford Stadium)
TV: CBS
Line: Georgia by 13