Josh Heupel provides update on Cooper Mays’ availability

One of the most important players on the Tennessee Volunteers‘ offense is Cooper Mays. The senior is the anchor of the team’s offensive line and came into the season on the Reese’s Senior Bowl watchlist. However, he hasn’t gotten on the field this season because of an injury.

In August, Mays needed a procedure and was expected to be out for a couple of weeks. He missed the season opener and hasn’t been back since. That’s despite Tennessee expecting him back for both the Florida and UTSA games beforehand.

Now, head coach Josh Heupel has shared where Cooper Mays stands in regards to his health moving forward.

“We’ll see next week,” Josh Heupel said. “End of the day, he didn’t feel like he was ready for this one. So, hopefully, we’ll have him back.”

Against UTSA, Tennessee gained 7.8 yards per play. That included 209 passing yards and 303 rushing yards. Despite that, Heupel still felt like the Volunteers could have been better on the offensive line, in particular, that their consistency should have been better.

Tennessee certainly did miss Cooper Mays in the loss to Florida. In that game, the Volunteers struggled to run the ball in a tough environment.

Along with the injury to Mays, Tennessee didn’t play Gerald Mincey against Florida on offense after getting a citation for simple possession. That further tested the Volunteers’ offensive line depth.

Ultimately, Mays was a game-time decision against UTSA and he didn’t feel healthy enough to go in the game. It will be interesting to see throughout the week if anything changes to keep him from being another game-time decision in Week 5. That game will be a key SEC game against South Carolina.

Cooper Mays was a preseason Third Team All-SEC selection.

How should Tennessee fans feel?

Despite a 3-1 start to the season, Tennessee took a frustrating upset loss to Florida to open up SEC play. On top of that, the team’s explosive offense hasn’t run as smoothly as it has in previous seasons. So, how should Tennessee fans feel? Joel Klatt shared his thoughts.

“You know how you should feel Tennessee fans? Duped. You got duped. You got totally duped. Because guess what? You thought that the program had elevated to that point where you were an upper-echelon SEC program. That’s not the case. You had some upper-echelon talent and there’s a huge difference – huge,” Klatt said.

“Joe Milton is not anywhere nearly as good of a quarterback as Hendon Hooker. That’s just a fact,” said Klatt. “The wide receiver group is not Jalin Hyatt and company like last year. The defense has not been up to par. You got duped into feeling like your program had arrived at a level in which it had not arrived at. A few players took you to a mountaintop and duped you into thinking that the entire program was on that mountaintop. It’s just not the case. And, now, when they walk out the door? Here we are.”