Transfers, lawsuits and a severed finger: Making sense of the Cade Mays saga

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. and ATHENS, Ga. On a late afternoon in the waning days of 2019, Cade Mays stood in a red Georgia practice jersey and fielded a question about the year that was to come. The backdrop: Mays was at the Sugar Bowl, and had been selected by Georgia to be one of its

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. and ATHENS, Ga. — On a late afternoon in the waning days of 2019, Cade Mays stood in a red Georgia practice jersey and fielded a question about the year that was to come. The backdrop: Mays was at the Sugar Bowl, and had been selected by Georgia to be one of its player representatives at a pregame media session. A team leader. The key guy coming back on an offensive line that had already lost two starters to the NFL, and would lose another after the game.

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But this was the unofficial beginning of the 2020 season, a chance for Mays and the revamped Georgia line to get started, right?

“Definitely, I would say so,” Mays said, smiling as his left hand gripped his shoulder pads. “This is definitely that step to next year.”

A little more than a week later Mays would walk into the office of head coach Kirby Smart and inform him that he was transferring. There was clearly no talking him out of a decision that Smart didn’t see coming.

“No, I didn’t have a sense,” Smart said.

But if you go back and look at the video of Mays speaking before the Sugar Bowl you can find the signs. As he’s asked about 2020, he looks away and briefly, perhaps nervously, rubs his nose. Given what we know now, it’s easy to surmise that the wheels were already in motion: The bizarre lawsuit over an incident more than two years old. His younger brother’s football career. The departure of perhaps his best friend at Georgia. The shuffling around on Georgia’s offensive line.

And it culminates this week when Mays, now at Tennessee, returns to Sanford Stadium.

“I always want to play,” Mays said at that media session in 2019. “It doesn’t matter how the tables are turned, I always want to play.”

Before Mays makes his return to his former campus, here’s how Mays went to Athens and back, and why Saturday’s game holds so much significance.\

July 13, 2015: Cade Mays commits to Tennessee

In 247Sports’ initial Top-100 rankings in the summer of 2015, more than three years before any of the players in the 2018 class could sign, Mays was ranked as the nation’s No. 42 overall prospect. Tennessee offered Mays a scholarship back in June 2014, before he’d even played a down of high school football. Mays was 6-foot-5 and 305 pounds entering his sophomore season and had already established himself as one of the top prospects in the 2018 class. That profile would only grow. By the time Mays was prepared to sign his letter of intent as a senior in high school, he was a five-star recruit, the nation’s No. 22 overall prospect and the best player in the state of Tennessee.

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But in 2015, he was a foundational piece of the Vols’ recruiting class and had no intention of going elsewhere. His father, Kevin, was a former Tennessee player and Mays had begun developing into a star at Knoxville Catholic, about 10 miles west of Neyland Stadium.

Second-year coach Butch Jones had just led Tennessee to its first winning record since 2009 and followed it up by signing the nation’s No. 4 recruiting class in 2015. It was a bright day on Rocky Top.

Nov. 7, 2017: Cade Mays decommits from Tennessee

Curious midseason player departures, a disappointing 2016 campaign and a wave of losses in 2017 transformed the optimism around Tennessee into a weekly conversation about when Tennessee would fire Jones, not if he’d be fired.

The uncertainty meant Mays, who planned to sign in December and enroll early, would almost certainly be looking elsewhere to play his college career instead of living out his plans to stay home and follow in his father’s footsteps by wearing the Power T.

Sam Pittman was ready to pounce. Then in his second year as Georgia’s offensive line coach, Pittman was building a stable of five-stars, such as Isaiah Wilson the year before, and Pittman had recruited Mays.

“He had a relationship with Cade long before anything changed and Cade decided to open things up,” Smart would later say. “That relationship honestly he had early gave him a lead when Cade decided to look around.”

Nov. 12, 2017: Butch Jones fired as Tennessee head coach

Mays’ concerns about Jones’ future proved warranted. Tennessee, heavy favorites to win the SEC East in 2016, lost a pair of late-season division games to South Carolina and Vanderbilt to finish 4-4 in conference place and in a three-way tie for second in the East. The Vanderbilt loss cost Tennessee a trip to the Sugar Bowl.


(Michael Reaves / Getty Images)

In 2017, Jones was fired the day after a 50-17 loss at Missouri, falling to 0-6 in conference in what would be the first winless SEC season in Tennessee history.

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Dec. 7, 2017: Jeremy Pruitt hired as Tennessee head coach

After a coaching search that was unhinged at every level, new athletic director (and former Tennessee head coach) Phillip Fulmer hired Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt as Tennessee’s new head coach just days after he had replaced fired athletic director John Currie.

Pruitt was a surprising choice who had never been a head coach and someone whose name had not come up much in the Vols search until late in the process.

Now, he had less than two weeks before the first-ever early signing period began to piece together a recruiting class that had splintered after Jones’ exit.

“What kind of football team do we want to have here? My vision for our football team is we want to be a big, fast, dominating, aggressive, relentless football team that nobody in the SEC wants to play. That’s my goal,” Pruitt said. “How do we get there? It starts in recruiting. When we get on the road recruiting, everyone is going to be excited.

“My goal is five years from now when I stand back up here, is for everyone to still be this excited. That’s my goal. I’m challenging everybody who is associated with this university. Let’s get our hands out of our pockets. Let’s roll our sleeves up. Let’s get ready to get in the streets with everyone else in the SEC. That’s what we have to do to be successful. If we want to get what we want, we have to outwork everyone. Let’s not talk about it. Let’s go do it. It starts today. Everyone associated with it, let’s get ready to go get what we want.”

Dec. 15, 2017: Cade Mays’ father, Kevin, suffers hand injury on Georgia recruiting trip

After decommitting from Tennessee, Mays went on a tour of college football’s bluest of bluebloods. He made official visits to Ohio State, Clemson and finally, five days before National Signing Day, Georgia. The Buckeyes, Tigers and Bulldogs were his new top three after deciding he wouldn’t be playing at Tennessee, and he squeezed in his visits before the early signing period.

Georgia was his final visit.

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Kevin Mays and his wife, Melinda, were attending a recruiting dinner at the club level of Sanford Stadium, along with other recruits. Kevin was seated in front of a support column and when he tried to stand, the column prevented the chair from moving. Instead, it folded and his right pinkie finger was caught in the chair’s hinge and partially amputated it, according to a lawsuit filed later. Pittman picked up the finger and put it on ice. Mays was taken to the hospital. It could not be reattached and he underwent multiple surgeries and a skin graft on the finger.

Dec. 20, 2017: Cade Mays commits to Georgia and signs with Bulldogs

Mays saved his final decision for National Signing Day. Live on ESPNU, he began his announcement, stood up, tore open his blue dress shirt to reveal a black shirt with Georgia’s Super G logo. He was heading to Athens. He made his announcement flanked by his parents, with his father wearing a bulky bandage on his hand that fully covered his pinkie.

“I just fell in love with Athens when I went there. Coach Smart’s got the program going in the right direction,” he said. “It’s where I want to call home for the next four years.”

Jan. 2018: Cade Mays enrolls at Georgia and participates in spring practice

Mays quickly impressed on the field, working his way into the two-deep on the offensive line. He made friends off the field, too, going turkey hunting and fishing with quarterback Jake Fromm.

“He caught one a little bit bigger than I did,” Fromm said of Mays. “The next day, I had to kind of get him back. We got that all figured out.”

And while Mays hunted with Fromm, tight end Charlie Woerner and others with a rural background, he also bonded with fellow offensive lineman Isaiah Wilson, the gregarious native of Brooklyn, N.Y. Over the next two years, the two would form a strong friendship.

Jan 27, 2018: Pruitt and Tennessee offer Cooper Mays, Cade’s younger brother

Pruitt and his staff took an early liking to Cooper Mays, who also played offensive line at Knoxville Catholic. Cooper was eventually a four-star prospect with a host of offers, but early in Pruitt’s tenure at Tennessee, the Vols made him a priority and validated Jones’ staff’s initial offer in 2016. It paid off down the road.

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Georgia had also offered Cooper, way back in Jan. 2017, and he would make four unofficial visits to Athens in 2018, in April and then for three games during the season, including Tennessee’s visit to Sanford Stadium.

Sept. 15, 2018: Cade Mays makes his first start at Georgia

Mays had played off the bench in Georgia’s first two games, including extensive action in Week 2 against South Carolina. Then with future first-round pick Andrew Thomas dealing with a foot injury, Mays started at left tackle in week 3 against Middle Tennessee.

As the season went on, Mays would start seven games as a true freshman, and appear in every game that he was healthy. This was when Mays’ versatility began to emerge, as Smart voiced that preseason when asked about Mays working at different spots:

“It’s been an experiment for us. He’s played some right tackle here, left tackle here, he’s working at some guard. I think it’s easier for him to stay on the left side. He’s handled moving in there well but it’s just an experiment in there right now.”

At the end of the season, Mays was named a Freshman All-American by the FWAA, and was named one of the four offensive newcomers of the year at Georgia’s team gala.

June 21, 2019: Cooper Mays commits to Tennessee

Two weeks running a downtrodden program wasn’t enough for Pruitt to win over Cade Mays, but after 18 months of recruiting and program building, Pruitt convinced the younger Mays to stay home.

Cooper would eventually sign early at Tennessee six months later and enrolled in January 2020 with plans to participate in spring practice.

Aug. 31, 2019: Cade Mays starts in Georgia season opener

In his native state, Mays got the start at right guard in Georgia’s win at Vanderbilt. And so would begin a season in which Mays would play every offensive line position for Georgia: He started six times at right guard, two times at left guard, and two times each at left and right tackle. He also played center during Georgia’s win against Missouri.

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“He’s kind of like Coach Pittman’s little guinea pig,” Fromm said of Mays after one game. “It’s like, ‘Cade, go here,’ and, ‘Cade, go there.’ Cade is an awesome dude who works hard, and it’s great to see this carry over to the field for him.”

Outwardly, Mays didn’t seem to mind moving around. He told the media after one game that it would help him in the NFL, where only seven offensive linemen usually travel to games so versatility is prized. And he sounded generally happy about being at Georgia.


(Perry McIntyre / UGA Athletics)

“It’s been a blast, especially at home,” Mays said in September. “No matter what position I’m playing, there are 93,000 people here to watch us, and that’s awesome.”

Dec. 5, 2019: Kevin Mays files $3.5-million lawsuit stemming from recruiting trip incident

In December, two days before Georgia faced LSU in the SEC Championship Game, Mays filed a lawsuit in Georgia against the University of Georgia, the company that designed the chair that severed his finger, the furniture dealership that helped UGA purchase the chair and five other individuals not identified in the suit.

Kevin and his wife were seeking $3.5 million in damages for medical expenses, pain and suffering, loss of labor, future lost income, loss of consortium and punitive damages.

Dec. 8, 2019: Sam Pittman hired as Arkansas head coach

Pittman, who came to Georgia from Arkansas after the 2015 season, found out the morning after the SEC championship that he was a serious candidate for the Razorbacks’ head coaching job. Lane Kiffin had passed on an offer to take the Ole Miss job and Pittman, known for being beloved by his players, was soon headed back to Fayetteville.

Smart acted quickly to replace him, hiring Matt Luke, who had been the head coach at Ole Miss — but Mays didn’t really know who Luke was, as he admitted a few weeks later.

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“I’m in my own kind of world, I guess,” Mays said.

Dec. 17, 2019: Georgia offensive lineman Isaiah Wilson declares for 2020 NFL Draft

Not only was Cade Mays losing his position coach, but he also saw Andrew Thomas and Wilson declare for the draft, fellow starter Solomon Kindley would do so after the Sugar Bowl, as would hunting buddy Jake Fromm.

But Wilson may have loomed the largest, as he and Mays formed a tight bond. Still, Wilson said he was surprised by Mays’ decision to leave, speaking a couple months later.

“He didn’t tell me about it. It definitely threw me for a loop. But that’s still my boy,” Wilson said. “Things happen. He’s definitely like a brother to me. That’s not going to change just because he wears orange.”

Jan. 1: Mays plays for Georgia in Sugar Bowl win vs. Baylor

The good feelings flowed in the Bulldogs’ locker room, especially for an offense that had been criticized (deservedly) that season, but looked much better in the 26-14 win against Baylor, in a game everyone hoped would foreshadow a better 2020.

But changes were already afoot. The quarterback (Fromm), the playcaller (James Coley) and more players would not be returning.

Jan. 8: Cade Mays transfers to Tennessee

Around Tennessee, there were murmurs Tennessee might be adding a five-star offensive lineman it had failed to bring to Rocky Top two years earlier. Those rumors had merit.

Just a week after suiting up for the Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl, Mays was in the transfer portal. Later that day, Tennessee announced he would be transferring back home.

“As a guy with multiple years of starting experience on the offensive line in the SEC, Cade is a tremendous addition to our program,” Pruitt said in a statement. “He’s tough and he’s powerful, and he is a versatile player who can line up anywhere on the offensive line. He will have an impact on the field, and he will also have a positive effect on our team and in the offensive line room with his leadership ability.”

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The family also hired attorney Tom Mars to aid Tennessee in Mays’ pursuit of immediate eligibility. Mars said the lawsuit wouldn’t play a role in Mays’ waiver case with the NCAA and SEC.

“In this case, there’s no value in being more explicit about what happened. Being at all transparent about what happened would probably not sit well with Georgia fans anyway,” Mars said. “I’m not interested in trashing UGA, and there’s no benefit to doing that. And even if I tried to be very diplomatic about it, I’m sure what I had to say would not sit well with anybody in Athens or anybody that’s part of Dawg Nation. The decision to not talk about it is not only a decision that reflects the privacy every student-athlete has, it’s also a decision that reflects respect for the process and for UGA. If UGA wanted to try this case in the press, I’d be happy to. But I don’t think they want to. And therefore, I don’t have any desire to.”

Earlier in the day, after early reports that Mays would be transferring from Georgia, news of the Mays’ family lawsuit broke, via a Georgia recruiting site.

Later that month, Mars accused Georgia of pointing a reporter to where the suit had been filed, essentially leaking its existence after no one had reported it in the month since it had been on record.

“Unlike Mr. Mars, we will not engage in a public discussion of a student eligibility matter,” Georgia said in a statement. “Although the Mays lawsuit is a public document available on the internet, no one at UGA was authorized to discuss it, we’re not aware of anyone who did so and the reporter who broke the story of the lawsuit has stated he was not notified by anyone at UGA.”

Mars response, via text: A dog emoji and a growing nose emoji, a la Pinocchio.

Tom Mars issues this response to the UGA statement: pic.twitter.com/I6CftEkae0

— Seth Emerson (@SethWEmerson) January 9, 2020

Frustrated with the NCAA’s initial decision to deny Mays immediate eligibility, Pruitt would later reference the lawsuit.

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“It’s interesting to me, for him, that the NCAA and everybody associated with college athletics, we always try to serve the kids, right? And Cade’s a guy that based off of none of his doing, he has nothing to do with it,” Pruitt said. “There’s a circumstance there obviously with a lawsuit between his parents and the University of Georgia, and it was something that started while he was there. So it is an unusual circumstance.

“Him electing to transfer and us applying for a waiver, to me, it’s just common sense. If there’s a lawsuit going on with your employer, it’s probably not the healthiest situation in the world and that’s not bashing anybody at Georgia, that’s just common sense to me.”

March 10: Cade Mays practices for first time at Tennessee

Tennessee opened spring practice with both Mays brothers in orange. Three days later, all of college football shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic and players were sent home. They didn’t return to campus as a team until June.

May 8: Attorney Tom Mars leaves Mays’ waiver case

Mars has since left his post inside the NCAA’s enforcement division, but left the case over the summer.

“Because of my standby role with NCAA Enforcement as an Independent Advocate, I stopped taking new transfer waiver cases earlier this year and withdrew from the few cases I was involved in, which included the Cade Mays case,” Mars told The Athletic. “I explained to Cade’s father the reason I felt a need to withdraw and told him Cade was in good hands with Tennessee compliance.”

Aug. 17: Jeremy Pruitt announces Cade Mays was denied immediate eligibility by NCAA

Tennessee began preseason camp and did so with a cloud hanging over Mays’ status after the NCAA’s surprising decision.

“The circumstances surrounding (Cade) and his family are something he had no control over,” Pruitt said. “I hate it for him. I hate it for every young man and woman out there that wants to transfer. I’m in favor of the one-time transfer (exception). My question is, ‘Why should we stand in the way of a young man or woman trying to figure out what the right place for them is?’ Right now that’s not the rule. I hope that eventually that will be the rule. I know for everybody that has transferred from our place, I have written a letter for recommendation to the NCAA that requested they be approved for immediate eligibility. So I know it’s frustrating for Cade. It’s frustrating for our team.”

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Within hours, #FreeCadeMays was trending on social media. In the following weeks, Pruitt again called out the decision and even Mays’ teammate, Trey Smith, took a shot at the NCAA.

“The people that are making these decisions are just sitting in the meeting room, just drinking coffee, and just looking at the paper. It’s really asinine, to say the least. We’re talking about a season where eligibility doesn’t even matter, you’re not going to clear this kid?”

After the denial, the Mays family hired Knoxville attorney Gregory Isaacs to assist with the appeal.

“Because of a variety of factors, it was a toxic environment that did not support Cade Mays’ well-being as a student-athlete,” Isaacs told the Knoxville News Sentinel in August.

On Monday, Pruitt was asked what the lawyer meant by a “toxic” environment.

“I have no idea,” he said. “I was not involved in those conversations.”

Kirby Smart declined chances to comment on the “toxic” comment. (“In due time that will play itself out. But it’s not something I’m allowed to comment on.”)

Sept. 17: Cade Mays wins his NCAA appeal

Isaacs said he included additional information in the appeal to the NCAA and it was effective.


(Andrew Ferguson / Tennessee Athletics)

However, one hurdle remained: An SEC rule that expressly prohibited immediate eligibility for intraconference transfers that were not graduate transfers.

“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. I have not really had a chance to talk to (Commissioner) Greg (Sankey) much about it,” Pruitt said. “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. I have a lot of confidence in the outcome.”

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Sept. 26: Cade Mays sits out Tennessee season opener

Mays had planned to play in the game but didn’t travel with Tennessee to its season-opening win at South Carolina. There was discussion about eliminating the SEC’s transfer rule, which Sankey called “appropriate” before the season’s opening weekend. Sankey and the SEC’s indecision also kept Kentucky quarterback Joey Gatewood (and Auburn transfer) and Ole Miss defensive back Otis Reese (a Georgia transfer) waiting while their teammates played their first game of the season.

“My grandmother always used to say, ‘If you ain’t got nothing nice to say, don’t say nothing at all,’ so I’m not going to say anything at all,” Pruitt said after the game when asked about Mays’ absence.

Sept. 30: SEC grants Cade Mays immediate eligibility

In another year, Mays may lose this battle. But amid a pandemic that produced a blanket eligibility waiver for all college athletes, Sankey elected to make Mays, Gatewood and Reese eligible immediately.

“Today is a great day for all of college athletics,” Mays wrote on Twitter.

Oct. 3: Cade Mays makes Tennessee debut vs. Missouri

Mays made his debut as the Vols’ starting right tackle against Missouri and played some right guard, too. It was a strong debut for Smith and the rest of his unit.

“I know that Cade probably got tired in the game. I think a lot of the guys did. And we have to continue to work on their conditioning. Some of that is just getting into football shape,” Pruitt said. “We understood it going in, that’s why we had a plan to play a lot of guys.”

Saturday: Mays to make his return to Georgia

Ben Cleveland, the senior right guard for Georgia, was asked what it will be like to see Mays back at Sanford Stadium in a Tennessee uniform, and after everything that happened.

“We were always good whenever he was here,” Cleveland said. “You can’t shake your head at the kid for wanting to do what he felt was best for himself and his family. Because ultimately 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. And he felt that’s what was best for his family. I felt we stood behind him as his teammates as he went on that journey.”

(Top photo: Andrew Ferguson / Tennessee Athletics)

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