It's been a common theme over the last couple of months.

Vol legacy Cooper Mays makes the short drive from his Kingston home to Tennessee's campus to checkout the Vols. On Saturday, there he was again back on Rocky Top and this time it was to see progress on the field as Tennessee held its first full scrimmage of spring practice.

"It was a big thing for me because I'm all comfortable with the staff and where they are," Mays said. "It showed me more about how they have improved and they have always talked about it and how improvements were coming, but it was good to see it today."

Mays said he saw marked improvement in a lot of areas. But where did Mays see the improvements with his position group along the offensive line?

"I think the biggest improvement I saw was the added depth," Mays said. "They were light on depth so it was a big change to see a lot more bodies. They showed a lot more physicality as well."

Mays spent a good amount of time watching true freshman Wanya Morris as the early enrollee tries to find his footing in just his ninth college practice.

"I think it's easy for a lot of young offensive linemen to have trouble adjusting to the speed and getting a little bit head heavy," Mays said. "I think Wanya did a really good job of slowing the game down for himself and using good hands and good leverage."

As a fan, you spend most of the time watching the ball on plays, but for a prospect it's more about the position you play so when watching the scrimmage Mays was watching all of the offensive lineman and how they worked their craft.

"It's a lot different than the general fan," Mays said. "I'm used to it because I'm always watching film of myself and where I can improve. I'm always looking at one general position so it's a different perspective."

Mays spent most of his time with his new Catholic Teammate Tyler Baron and Rome, Georgia prospect Tate Ratledge. The three have recently become solid friends and it makes the visit more fun when you have someone to bond with.

"Tyler and I have been close going back to freshman year," Mays said. "Even though he was in Nashville and I was in Knoxville, we been texting back and forth or playing video games online. Tate and I just started talking recently, so it's surprising to see us become friends so fast, but we are all easy going so we get along well."

For the first time as a prospect Mays put on full pads at Tennessee for recruiting pictures. He doesn't get into the flash of recruiting but even he admits it felt good to put on a full uniform and simulate that feeling.

Next Sunday he will be in Charlotte to compete in the Rivals camp and it's something he's been looking forward to for a while.

"It's a big thing for me," Mays said. "It's always good to compete and I look forward to showing people what I can do. I personally think I'm a little bit undervalued. I don't really care about rankings, but it's also hard to ignore. It's big for me to go out there and compete and show I'm one of the best."

Rivals.com ranks Mays as a 3-star offensive lineman in the class of 2020.