Most people around the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football program expected Jamoi Mayes to step up as one of the more productive receivers on the team this season.
By the second game, Mayes was beginning to realize it as well.
The 5-foot-11, 200-pound sophomore leads the Mocs (5-1, 3-0 Southern Conference) with 19 receptions this season, which is impressive considering he had just one catch in the opener against Wofford and did not have any in the Sept. 22 loss at Illinois. His 237 receiving yards rank third behind freshmen Javin Whatley (259) and Sam Phillips (253), and he’s tied with Whatley and running back Ailym Ford in touchdown catches with two.
It was in a 38-20 dispatching of host Eastern Illinois that Mayes had six catches for 61 yards and started to understand his potential. A week later, he scored his first touchdown of the year, hauling in an 8-yard pass from Preston Hutchinson in a 41-14 home win over North Alabama, and his 11-yard reception at East Tennessee State gave the Mocs their first lead in a 24-16 comeback win on Oct. 1.
UTC coaches already knew what the former three-star prospect from Georgia’s Griffin High School was capable of — the February 2020 signee received playing time even during his first season with the Mocs — but it’s becoming more and more evident now. Mayes made four appearances, including one start, in spring 2021 during the pandemic-delayed SoCon schedule, and last fall he finished with 250 yards on 15 catches after playing in 10 games as part of a senior-laden group.
“Jamoi took the offseason work serious. He worked hard and he did everything he was supposed to do,” said senior offensive lineman McClendon Curtis, a team captain this season. “I always talked to him and let him know we were going to depend on him and he was going to have to be ready for it. He took it serious. He knows every position in the receiving corps, and I feel like he’s grown up a lot, done his part and also brought those guys along with him.”
With so much experience lost at receiver, it was obvious the Mocs would need some of those who remained to take on bigger roles if the offense was going to have a passing game that could balance the steady running game led by Ford and Gino Appleberry. The Mocs haven’t had a 100-yard receiver this season — Phillips’ 96 yards against North Alabama is the high — but Mayes has the build and the talent to be a primary target who can make a difference in any single game.
“Jamoi has all the talent in the world. It was just a matter of him embracing that and working hard to be that guy, and he has,” UTC coach Rusty Wright said. “His growth in the last year and a half or so has been probably just as much more than anybody we’ve had, and that’s doing everything right day to day and busting it in the weight room. He’s better academically, he practices harder. He’s doing everything he’s supposed to to be a good player.
“That’s what we always thought he could be; it was just a matter of when it happens.”
Mayes, who contributes as a returner on special teams, is also driven by the memory of a failure. His two muffed punts in the March 2021 game against Mercer led to 14 points for the Bears in a 35-28 loss for UTC, which then opted out of the remainder of its schedule.
The Mocs are ranked eighth by Football Championship Subdivision coaches and 10th in the Stats Perform Top 25 this week as they prepare for another visit from Mercer (6-1, 4-0), which is 11th in both polls. Saturday’s 1:30 p.m. game at Finley Stadium will match two of the top three teams in the SoCon standings — Samford (5-1, 3-0) is the other — and Mayes is ready to do whatever it takes to help get the job done against the Bears, who also beat UTC last fall in Macon, Georgia.
“I’ve been locked in, like, extra, extra hard this week,” the soft-spoken Mayes said. “We haven’t beaten them since I’ve been here, and I know it’s hard to win each week, but I feel like we’ve got them this week.
“I just feel like you’ve got to do something to beat them. That’s just my biggest goal this week.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.