Immediate eligibility coming? Cade Mays hires high-profile attorney who blasts Georgia for taking ‘low road’ following lineman’s transfer
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Tennessee fans hoping to see Cade Mays in Big Orange and on the field next fall may soon get their wish.
While that may have seemed like a pipedream not long ago, Mays has officially left Georgia for Tennessee in a stunning development this week. Mays had been a longtime pledge to join Tennessee’s program under Butch Jones but after being committed to his hometown Volunteers for over two years, the five-star lineman signed with Georgia as a member of the program’s 2018 recruiting class.
With offensive line coach Sam Pittman leaving Georgia for Arkansas and Tennessee signing Cade’s younger brother Cooper Mays as a member of its 2020 recruiting class, the path back to Rocky Top opened up for the former Volunteer commit.
Now Mays is seeking the opportunity to play immediately in Knoxville, which would be somewhat unusual considering he’s leaving one program for another in the same division. To help his case, Mays and his family have hired noted attorney Tom Mars, who has successfully managed to get a number of athletes eligible immediately in recent years, including Justin Fields and Shea Patterson.
Mars recently exchanged an email with Blake Toppmeyer of the Knoxville News Sentinel and expressed his optimism that Mays will be granted his immediate eligibility next season.
“Of all the waiver cases I’ve been involved in, I’ve never seen anything quite like this one,” Mars wrote. “For the sake of everyone who loves college football, I hope I never see another one.”
According to the Knoxville News Sentinel, Mars did not get into any details regarding Mays’ waiver request.
Immediately following news of Mays’ decision to leave Georgia, the Georgia Rivals affiliate broke the news of Kevin Mays lawsuit against Georgia following an incident in Athens during a recruiting visit. Kevin Mays’ allegedly had part of his finger severed and is seeking $3 million in damages from Georgia.
Naturally, many are assuming the lawsuit has to do with the Mays family trying to get Cade eligible immediately. According to Mars, that isn’t the case. In fact, Mars alleges that Georgia leaked news of the lawsuit to the media following Cade’s decision to leave Kirby Smart’s program.
Considering the timing, the lawsuit was filed back in early December but was not written about in the media until immediately after Cade’s decision to leave Georgia, Mars may be on to something with his claim.
“The Mays family has never said a word to anyone about Kevin Mays’ lawsuit,” Mars added. “The timing of the news stories about Mr. Mays’ lawsuit makes clear that UGA leaked this story to sportswriters today after Cade delivered a letter to Kirby Smart late (Tuesday) explaining the reason he’s leaving Kirby’s program.
“In fact, one sportswriter I spoke with earlier today confirmed that’s how he found out about the lawsuit. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that UGA is continuing to take the low road about the lawsuit, but in my opinion, directing sports writers to Mr. Mays’ lawsuit set a new record low for UGA Athletics.”
Based on Mars’ history dealing with the NCAA and member programs, it would appear unwise of Georgia to make the attorney angry but that’s apparently what they did. Tennessee fans may have been doing a victory lap yesterday following news of Cade Mays transfer but their celebrating may not be done as things are looking up when it comes to the Volunteers having another five-star offensive lineman on the field in 2020.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
