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Josh Heupel expects Cooper Mays to play against Florida

Untitled design (2)by: Sam Gillenwater09/14/23samdg_33

Tennessee has missed a significant part of their offensive line over the first two weeks with the absence of Cooper Mays. That should be set to change this weekend, though, based on the latest from Josh Heupel.

Heupel said during his press conference on Wednesday that the Volunteers expect Mays to make his season debut this weekend at Florida. He added that the senior has been ramping up this week and should be ready to go this weekend in The Swamp.

“He’ll be going with us,” said Heupel. “He’s been really good all week long. So we anticipate him being ready to play.”

In 31 games at Tennessee, Mays has made 23 starts as the center on the Vols’ offensive line. In those 30-plus appearances in orange, he has seen over 1,500 snaps and allowed only four sacks.

That’s why, heading into 2023, many voted him as an All-SEC Selection on either the second, third, or fourth teams while he also made the watchlist for the Reese’s Senior Bowl.

Mays is entering his fourth year in Knoxville as an in-town prospect. He came out of Knoxville Catholic in 2022 as a four-star recruit and rated as the No. 11 IOL in the country as well as the No. 7 player out of the state of Tennessee.

Tennessee has allowed two sacks through two games without Mays in the lineup. That effort should only get better in his return, especially since it’s opportune timing with Saturday night being their first contest of conference play down in Gainesville.

Tennessee reveals uniform combination for matchup vs. Florida

Ahead of their contest versus Florida, the Tennessee Volunteers used a Drake album cover to announce their uniform combo.

The official team Twitter account let fans know early in the morning on Thursday that their jerseys on Saturday will be icy white like the diamonds on the What a Time to Be Alive album by Drake and Future from 2015.

Check them out:

Tennessee wore its traditional home look at Nissan Stadium in Nashville on September 2 in a 49-13 win over Virginia. Then, last Saturday, Tennessee debuted the newest edition of The Smokey Grey series in a 30-13 win over Austin Peay, wearing the ‘Artful Dodger’ version of the alternate uniform, paying homage to Condredge Holloway.

No. 11 Tennessee (2-0) and Florida (1-1) will kick off Saturday at 7 p.m. EST on ESPN at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville.

The Vols are looking for their first win at The Swamp since 2003. 

Florida will be wearing its traditional orange helmet with blue jerseys and blue pants while encouraging their fans to also wear blue.