Tennessee football: Cade Mays wins eligibility waiver appeal with NCAA

The NCAA has ruled Cade Mays can play for Tennessee football in 2020.

Thursday was a big win for Cade Mays and Tennessee football, as he may be able to play in 2020.

According to David Ubben of The Athletic, “Cade Mays has won his immediate eligibility waiver appeal with the NCAA. Will need an official red stamp from the SEC to be available to play. Jeremy Pruitt said he wasn’t sure of the timeline on an official SEC approval.” Mays is a Knoxville, Tennessee native, but played his first two years of college ball for SEC East rival Georgia.

Cade Mays’ immediate eligibility means no player should ever have to sit out.

In years past, players would have to sit out a year if they transferred before they graduated from their initial school. Some players have been able to claim a hardship waiver for immediate eligibility. While Mays grew up a Vols fan, as his dad played for them back in the day, there was a lot of controversy surrounding his transfer from Georgia to Tennessee over the pinky lawsuit.

Not that long ago, some coaches would block players from transferring to certain programs. For example, Georgia head coaches like Mark Richt or Kirby Smart could have blocked transfers to their three biggest rivals in Auburn, Florida and Georgia Tech, but they’ve never been the type to strictly enforce that. However, Mays was going from one SEC East to school to another in 2020.

One of the things we learned this year in the college football landscape is players should be able to transfer and play right away in almost any circumstance. If JT Daniels can transfer from USC to Georgia because he tore his ACL and lost his starting job to Kedon Slovis, Mays can go back home to Knoxville, play for the Vols and see what becomes of his dad’s pinky lawsuit with Georgia.

As Ubben stated in his second tweet, Mays’ eligibility now is in the hands of SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and his Power 5 conference. Given that Sankey is one of the better Power 5 commissioners and is a very methodical man, he will read through the NCAA’s immediate eligibility waiver appeal Mays won and make the logical decision of allowing the junior to play for the Vols.

Don’t be shocked if Mays plays big minutes in Tennessee’s season opener vs. South Carolina.

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