Take Two: Does Tennessee have a clear lead for Cooper Mays?

CLASS OF 2020 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | State | Position | Team

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Take Two returns with a daily offering tackling an issue in the college football landscape. Rivals.com National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney lays out the situation and then receives takes from Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell and an expert from the Rivals.com network of team sites or a regional analyst.

Cade Mays was a five-star offensive tackle in the 2018 class who was a long-time Tennessee commit only to back off that pledge and end up at Georgia.

And now his brother, Cooper Mays, is a three-star offensive tackle in this class and the Knoxville (Tenn.) Knoxville Catholic is a priority for the Volunteers along with Georgia, LSU and other programs.

There is no question Mays has a lot of interest in Tennessee since he’s already taken his official visit there, he’s developed great relationships with the coaching staff and there are plenty of connections to the program. If it matters, Mays’ Twitter picture is of him wearing a Tennessee uniform.

But there are other factors. His brother is playing at Georgia and the Bulldogs have established themselves as a perennial national contender. Cooper Mays has been to Athens and likes the environment there. Getting to play with his former five-star brother could definitely be a big consideration.

Or Cooper Mays might want to do his own thing completely - which means leave Knoxville and not play with his brother. There are plenty of programs interested in his services.

Does Tennessee have the far-and-away lead for Mays’ services or will this be the second Mays brother to break the Vols’ hearts and head elsewhere?

“Tennessee is the leader. He’s been there the most. One of the things that’s most important in his recruitment is that Jeremy Pruitt has made him a priority. He likes Georgia, but I don’t know if Georgia is really in the cards right now the way they’ve been recruiting at the position. Tennessee is finally going to get a Mays and it’s going to be this one.”

“He might want to set his own path and go to Tennessee. I think they’re the team he feels most comfortable with. His brother is at Georgia and, yes, that will play an influence when you look at siblings but it’s not always a done deal. We’ve had twin brothers go to separate schools in the same class. These are brothers from different classes and Tennessee is making him more of a priority than Georgia or anybody else. He’s going to feel the love from Tennessee. That’s where he’s feeling the most love, and he’s going to pave his own path.”