Jeremy Pruitt is here for Cade Mays, even when the NCAA is decidedly not.
Cade Mays was denied immediate eligibility on Monday and Jeremy Pruitt went to bat for him.
Mays is a Knoxville, Tennessee native and a former five-star recruit. Despite growing up a Tennessee football fan, he decided to play the first two years of his college career with the division rival Georgia Bulldogs. Mays started in 18 games during his two years in Athens, but opted to transfer back home following a lawsuit involving his father Kevin Maysā lost finger at a UGA event.
āThereās a lot of uncertainty there, and I hate it for him and hate it for every young man and woman who wants to transfer,ā said Pruitt, who pointed out that he was a transfer in college. āIām for the one-time transfer [rule].ā
āMy question is: Why should we stand in the way of a young man or woman trying to figure out where the right place is for them? Right now, thatās not the rule, and I hope eventually it will be the rule.ā
āI know everybody that has transferred from our place that I have written a letter of recommendation for them to the NCAA and requested that they be approved for immediate eligibility,ā said Pruitt. āI know itās frustrating for Cade, and itās frustrating for our team.ā
Why would the NCAA deny Cade Mays immediate eligibility at Tennessee?
While the NCAAās transfer rules are growing increasingly outdated, they are in place for a reason. College coaches donāt want a player who doesnāt win a starting job to leave the program and play for a rival right away and give another program their proverbial trade secrets. It is why some college coaches block a player from transferring to any number of schools, especially a rival.
Though Mays could plead for a hardship waiver because heās from Knoxville and his father lost a part of his pinky at a recruiting event back in 2017, the NCAA didnāt buy his case. The two biggest reasons Mays isnāt being granted immediate is he didnāt graduate from the University of Georgia before transferring and that heās transferred to an SEC East division rival in Tennessee.
What the NCAA has decided to do this offseason cycle is grant immediate eligibility for players who didnāt play very much the previous season, especially if they are a quarterback. The most notable example of this is former USC Trojans quarterback JT Daniels transferring to none other than Georgia. He did tear his ACL in the Trojansā Week 1 opener last year to Fresno State.
While it stinks that Mays canāt play in 2020, his transfer to Tennessee is why the rules are in place.
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