Since Tennessee senior center Cooper Mays enrolled in January 2020, he has witnessed the Volunteers improve from three victories as a freshman to seven as a sophomore to 11 last season.
He has also been a part of just one Orange & White spring game.
The Vols were two practices into their final spring under Jeremy Pruitt when the sports world was halted by the outbreak of the coronavirus. Tennessee conducted its spring showcase two years ago, when Josh Heupel was several weeks into his role as head coach, but last year’s contest had to be scratched due to construction inside Neyland Stadium.
Come Saturday afternoon at 2:30, Neyland will be available, and that’s all Mays needs sometimes to get the juices flowing.
“Neyland is a special environment every time you go in,” Mays said earlier this week. “It’s a lot of first things and a lot of new things for the young guys. Going over there will be a great thing for them. I didn’t get to experience it my freshman year because COVID hit. I didn’t get that experience until the first game, and even then it was during COVID, so it still wasn’t normal.
“These guys are going to have a great crowd to come out to, because we have the best fans in the country. I’m sure it will be special.”
The Vols held a closed practice Friday in preparation for their spring game, which will have ESPN+ and SEC Network+ digital broadcast availability.
Sixth-year senior Joe Milton III and five-star midyear enrollee Nico Iamaleava are certain to be under a spotlight given the nature of the quarterback position, but running backs Jabari Small and Jaylen Wright and receiver Bru McCoy are notable offensive components who are expected to sit out. The Orange & White game will be an introductory stage for running backs Cameron Seldon and DeSean Bishop and for receiver Nathan Leacock, each of whom enrolled early, and it’s also an opportunity for eight transfer portal additions: receiver Dont’e Thornton (Oregon), tight end McCallan Castles (UC Davis), offensive linemen John Campbell Jr. (Miami) and Andrej Karic (Texas), defensive lineman Omarr Norman-Lott (Arizona State), inside linebacker Keenan Pili (BYU), cornerback Gabe Jeudy-Lally (BYU) and kicker Charles Campbell (Indiana).
Watching the competition up front can always offer intrigue during a spring game, and that could be the case Saturday given that the Vols have moved on from Darnell Wright and Jerome Carvin offensively and from LaTrell Bumphus and Byron Young defensively.
“I feel like the defense, overall, has been doing a great job,” redshirt junior defensive tackle Bryson Eason said. “The intensity that we’ve been playing with has been out of this world. For this spring game, I’m just looking to get more work against the offensive guys and the O-line to test our eye skills and see where we’re at in a game atmosphere.
“We’re going to go out there, have fun, enjoy ourselves and have a good game out there with those guys.”
Once the game is over, the Vols will begin shifting their focus to a season that starts Sept. 2 against Virginia in Nashville. Tennessee is expected to encounter lofty expectations this summer in the various preseason rankings after last year’s run to an 11-2 record that culminated with a 31-14 triumph over Clemson in the Orange Bowl.
“We know what we’re coming for, and we know what we’re trying to do,” Eason said. “We know that we’re being the hunted and that we’re not the hunters anymore. That’s a big difference, so we’re going out there and trying to work to get better each and every day.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.