Ranking contenders for five-star OL Cade Mays

Class of 2018 five-star offensive tackle and longtime Tennessee commit Cade Mays backed off his pledge earlier this week, adding another national news item to a tumultuous fall for the Vol football program. Mays, a Knoxville native who had been committed since July 2015, is a Tennessee football legacy and was a fierce recruiter for the school over the past year. His loss was a major blow. Obviously, Tennessee will fight to get him back in the fold, no matter who the coach is on Rocky Top, but now the school has competition from some of college football’s top teams. So which program is the biggest threat? Today we rank the contenders.

STING FACTOR: How much did Mays' decommitment hurt Tennessee?

The split between Mays and Tennessee couldn’t have come at a better time for the Vols' SEC East rivals. The Bulldogs are the No. 1 team in the nation and boast the type of rushing attack and offensive line that a player like Mays would thrive in. Add in the fact that Bulldogs offensive line coach Sam Pittman did his due diligence back in the spring and stopped in to see Mays and his brother on campus and you can see why the Dawgs were immediately mentioned as an option. Going into his unofficial visit last weekend, it was clear Georgia had some ground to make up but now with Mays coming back for his last official visit on Dec. 15, just a week before he announces a decision, the momentum could be swinging in favor of Georgia landing yet another five-star prospect.

When rumors started to surface about Mays looking around earlier this fall, Clemson was the first school that was mentioned by most. The Tigers have done a tremendous job recruiting the Knoxville area in recent years, landing five-star wide receiver Tee Higgins in 2017 and also landing Tennessee legacy and Mays’ former high school teammate Amari Rodgers in the same class. Rodgers and Higgins are now pitching in to help recruit Mays, as is Tigers commit Mike Jones, Jr., a Tennessee native and a longtime friend. Mays has already been on campus once, having visited for a game last month and he will be back in Death Valley for a visit on Nov. 18. With other visits on the schedule, the official could be the best chance to the Tigers to take the lead for good in Mays' recruitment.

Most will say, how can the Vols, who had Mays committed for so long be third on this list? Well, given that Butch Jones is still the Vols' coach and many people think he won’t be come December, the situation with Mays is a tenuous one. Obviously, it’s easy for him to visit Tennessee anytime when the new coach is hired and he has one open weekend in December for an official visit, but right now the plan is to take his official visit for the Vanderbilt game on Nov. 25 and Mays said he has no plans to change his schedule. That means Jones will still be the coach and he and his current staff will be wooing Mays, despite the fact that they might not be in that position much longer after Mays leaves campus. Add in that the other schools in the list all have stable coaching situations and now have Mays full attention and there are plenty of barriers standing in the way to a reconciliation between the two parties. Of course, if Tennessee makes the right hire and does it quickly, things could change and the Vols could be right back in driver’s seat for the lifelong Vols fan.

The Buckeyes are no stranger to recruiting the state of Tennessee and currently hold commitments from four-star offensive lineman Max Wray and three-star running back Master Teague. Much like the other schools on this list, Mays wasted no time in setting up the official visit when it became clear that he was going to explore his options. One wildcard is the presence of Urban Meyer, the Buckeyes head coach and one of the nation’s best recruiters. Meyer has already taken a personal role in Mays’ recruitment and this weekend’s trip could go a long way in moving the Buckeyes up the list.

The Irish are a real wildcard in the recruitment, but the program's history and successful development of several offensive linemen have the attention of Mays and his family. Former Rivals100 offensive lineman and Tennessee native Alex Bars has had his share of success with the Irish and Notre Dame also had three-star Tennessee offensive lineman Cole Mabry in this year’s class. Mays and his family pay close attention to the college football landscape and it’s not a surprise with the number of NFL-caliber lineman playing for the Irish this season that Mays is highly intrigued with the school. Nevertheless, overcoming distance issues and a late start is going to be tough, but it’s not totally out of the question either.