As the lone offensive representative for Tennessee football at 2024 SEC Media Days, center Cooper Mays was tasked with answering questions about the Vols' offense.
When addressing his offensive line, he was quick to shoot down any narrative that it was the weak point of this side of the ball. It isn't a question mark, it's a strong point.
"I personally, I don't think our O-line is a question mark," Mays said. "I would think that it's probably a strong point for our team, in my opinion. Kind of bias out of it in general probably, but I would say it's a strong point."
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While question marks remain on which players will take the bulk of snaps at each position, the spring gave an insight on what to expect. Mays will hold down the center position as a Preseason All-SEC member with returning veteran John Campbell Jr. playing right tackle and entering his seventh college season and sophomore LSU transfer and former five-star Lance Heard manning the left side.
The guard positions are where things start to get tricky. If healthy, fifth-year senior Javontez Spraggins is unquestionably the right guard. The issue is he suffered a tough injury late in the season and missed the spring period.
Other options to play opposite of Spraggins or pinch in if he can't go for any games are Jackson Lampley, Dayne Davis and Andrej Karic. Each of these are returners with Lampley and Davis going into their sixth seasons and Karic entering his second with the Vols and fourth overall.
Having this experience around a largely inexperienced Heard is a big deal. The offensive line needs to communicate at a high level with just one missed assignment causing unnecessary chaos on an already unpredictable field.
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"Five guys doing the one thing and being on the same page, when you've got a bunch of guys that have played a lot of football and seen it, it helps a lot," Mays said. "We've got a young guy in Lance Heard that hasn't played a ton of football, and putting people next to him that have played a ton of football or just being around somebody that knows what they're doing, it's invaluable. Then when you've got five people like that all on the same page, it's a game changer."
While the Vols boast one of the most veteran-led offensive lines in the country this year, next season may be different. Heard will have one more season before becoming draft eligible but everyone else named by Mays as he went down the list in Campbell, Spraggins, Lampley and Davis will be out of eligibility besides Karic who will have his Covid year.
Mays likes the youth that will be asked to step up, though. True freshmen include William Satterwhite, Jeremias Heard, Bennett Warren, Max Anderson, Jesse Perry and Gage Ginther. Second year players are Vysen Lang, Ayden Bussell and Trevor Duncan. There are also a group of redshirt sophomores in the mix in Masai Reddick, Gus Hill, Brian Grant and Larry Johnson III.
With a redshirt freshman in Nico Iamaleava at quarterback, having an offensive line that gives him time will be even more important. He's shown the ability to escape pressure and throw on the run but time in the pocket will be valuable as he deals with the newness of being an SEC full-time starter.
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