A pair of Tennessee Volunteers voted Preseason First-Team All-SEC   

With the conclusion of Southeastern Conference Media Days in Dallas, TX. this week, the media in attendance have voted on the preseason All-Conference teams and two Tennessee Volunteers appear on the first-team.

Offensive lineman Cooper Mays and defensive end James Pearce received the honors while no other Vols appeared on the three preseason squads. Both Mays and Pearce have already been named preseason All-Americans by two different publications.

Mays, the 6-foot-4, 310-pound fifth-year senior, has been Tennessee’s starting center the last four seasons and was a Second Team All-SEC pick by the Associated Press in 2023. As a junior in 2022, Mays was named SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week following Tennessee’s win over Missouri in November.

The Rimington Trophy candidate has played in 40 career games with 32 starts – all at the center position. Mays has seen action on 2,075 career offensive snaps and has been responsible for only four sacks in the process. He graduated from Tennessee in May this past spring.

Pearce is coming off a breakout sophomore season, finishing with 14.5 tackles for loss and 10.0 sacks in 13 games and is widely considered to be one of the top pass rushers in college football entering his junior season.

The edge rusher, in May, was projected to be a top-five pick in ESPN’s first mock draft for the 2025 NFL Draft.

Tennessee placed seventh in the preseason poll SEC poll that was released on Friday, just ahead of Oklahoma in eighth and behind Missouri in sixth. The top-five includes Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Ole Miss and LSU while Texas A&M placed ninth and Auburn 10^th. Kentucky, Florida, South Carolina, Arkansas, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt conclude the rankings from 11^th to 16^th.

UT finished the 2023 campaign with an 8-4 record in the regular season. The 35-0 shutout win over Iowa in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Day improved the overall record to 9-4 with plenty of momentum following the first-career start for former five-star quarterback Nico Iamaleava.  

The Volunteers begin preseason camp on Wednesday, July 31 with the first game coming a month later on August 31 against Tennessee Chattanooga inside Neyland Stadium.  

All-SEC preseason First Team

OFFENSE

QB: Carson Beck, UGA
RB: Trevor Etienne, UGA
RB: Jarquez Hunter, AU
WR: Luther Burden III, MIZ
WR: Tre Harris, UM
TE: Caden Prieskorn, UM
C: Cooper Mays, UT
OL: Tyler Booker, UA
OL: Will Campbell, LSU
OL: Kelvin Banks Jr., TEX
OL: Tate Ratledge, UGA

DEFENSE

DL: James Pearce Jr., UT
DL: Walter Nolen, UM
DL: Deone Walker, UK
DL: Nazir Stackhouse, UGA
LB: Harold Perkins, LSU
LB: Danny Stutsman, OU
*LB: Deontae Lawson, UA
*LB: Mykel Wiliams, UGA
DB: Malaki Starks, UGA
DB: Malachi Moore, UA
DB: Billy Bowman, OU
DB: Maxwell Hairston, UK

SPECIALISTS

P: James Burnip, UA
PK: Bert Auburn, TEX
KS: Alex McPherson, AU 
RS: Barion Brown, UK
LS: Kneeland Hibbett, UA
AP: Zavion Thomas, LSU

All-SEC preseason Second Team

OFFENSE

QB: Quinn Ewers, TEX
RB: Raheim Sanders, SC
*RB: CJ Baxter, TEX
*RB:  Montrell Johnson Jr., UF
WR: Isaiah Bond, TEX
WR: Kyren Lacy, LSU
TE: Mason Taylor, LSU
C: Parker Brailsford, UA
OL: Emery Jones, LSU
OL: Kadyn Proctor, UA
OL: Xavier Truss, UGA
OL: Dylan Fairchild, UGA

DEFENSE

DL: Shemar Turner, TAMU
DL: Landon Jackson, ARK
DL: Nic Scourton, TAMU
*DL:  Tim Smith, UA
*DL: Jared Ivey, UM
LB: Debo Williams, SC
LB: Anthony Hill Jr., TEX
LB: Smael Mondon Jr., UGA
DB: Jahdae Barron, TEX
DB: Major Burns, LSU
DB: Andrew Mukuba, TEX
DB: Malik Muhammad, TEX

SPECIALISTS

P: Brett Thorson, UGA
PK: Graham Nicholson, UA
LS: Hunter Rogers, SC
KS: Will Stone, TEX
RS: Zavion Thomas, LSU
AP: Dillon Bell, UGA

All-SEC preseason Third Team

QB: Jalen Milroe, UA
RB: Justine Haynes, UA
RB: Ulysses Bently, UM
WR: Deion Burks, OU
WR: Dominic Lovett, UGA
TE: Oscar Delp, UGA
C: Jake Majors, TEX
OL: Earnest Greene III, UGA
OL: Marques Cox, UK
OL: Trey Zuhn III, TAMU
OL: Jaeden Roberts, UA

DEFENSE

DL: Tim Keenan III, UA
DL: Princely Umanmielen, UM
DL: Trey Moore, TEX
DL: Tonka Hemingway, SC
LB: Jamon “Pop” Dumas-Johnson, UK
LB: Jihaad Campbell, UA
LB: Eugene Asante, AU
DB: Domani Jackson, UA
DB: Daylen Everette, UGA
DB: Jason Marshall Jr., UF
*DB: Keon Sabb, UA
*DB: Nick Emmanwori, SC

SPECIALISTS

P: Jeremy Crawshaw, UF
PK: Alex McPherson, AU
LS: Slade Roy, LSU
KS: Trey Smack, UF
RS: Keionte Scott, AU
*AP: Barion Brown, UK
*AP: Jaydon Blue, TEX