Tennessee's Mays is Outland Trophy National Player of the Week

DALLAS (FWAA) – Tennessee center Cooper Mays guided the Volunteers’ offensive line to help amass 452 total yards Saturday in a 33-14 win over Mississippi State. For not allowing a sack for a 23rd consecutive game and pacing the Southeastern Conference in pass blocking efficiency, Mays earned the Outland Trophy National Player of the Week honor for games during the weekend of Nov. 9, as selected by the Football Writers Association of America.

This is the second season for the FWAA to select an Outland Trophy National Player of the Week as part of the NCFAA's weekly national honors from 12 awards. The recipient of the 2024 Outland Trophy will be announced on The Home Depot College Football Awards, live on ESPN on Dec. 12. The official presentation to the winner will be made at the Outland Trophy Awards Dinner sponsored by Werner Enterprises and produced by the Greater Omaha Sports Committee in Omaha, Neb., on Jan. 22, 2025.

The weekly winners have been added to the Outland Trophy watch list during the season. Mays was a member of the preseason Watch List. This is the final week of the season for the FWAA to hand out this award. 

Mays, a 6-4 graduate senior from Kingston, Tenn., played all 78 offensive snaps as Tennessee overran MSU with 452 total yards, including 240 on the ground. He did allow a QB pressure, another note for the Sport Management graduate (in May 2024) who has a 99.1 pass blocking efficiency rating by PFF that leads the SEC and is eighth in the FBS among centers with a minimum of 300 pass blocking snaps.

Mays has been the Vols’ starting center for the past four seasons and made his 41st career start against MSU. Tennessee rushed for 240 yards, improving its season total to 2,116. The Vols have produced 28 games of more than 200 rushing yards under coach Josh Heupel with a 26-2 record in such games with a 20-game win streak under that statistic – and Mays has been at center in each of them.  

The Vols had a 100-yard rusher (Dylan Sampson) and a 100-yard receiver (Don’t’e Thornton Jr.) against Mississippi State. Sampson eclipsed 1,000 rushing yards in the win (now with 1,129) and 2,000 for his career (now 2,130).

Mays, the latest in a series of Tennessee standouts from the Mays family, earned SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week honors after his performance against then-No. 7 Alabama on Oct. 19, paving the way for a Tennessee offense that put up 408 total yards and 214 rushing yards. He was the highest-graded blocker in the game by PFF from either team at 82.9 according to PFF. Cooper played alongside his older brother Cade, now in his third season with the Carolina Panthers, for two seasons. Their father, Kevin, was an All-SEC guard at Tennessee in the 1990’s.

Cooper also earned the conference weekly award Sept. 7 following a 51-10 win over NC State, the only other game this season in which Tennessee did not give up a sack.  

Mays has seen action on 2,690 career offensive snaps, allowing only four sacks, a streak that dates back to the 2022 season. Tennessee’s offensive line was announced as a semifinalist for the Joe Moore Award for a third consecutive season on Tuesday.

Tennessee’s last FWAA All-American came from its offensive line in 2020 when tackle Trey Smith made the second team. The Volunteers have two previous Outland Trophy winners in defensive tackle John Henderson in 2000 and offensive tackle Steve DeLong in 1964. Henderson was also a finalist in 2001.

The Volunteers play in one of the weekend’s feature games Saturday, heading to No. 11 Georgia for a 7:30 p.m. ET national broadcast on ABC.

The Outland Trophy winner is chosen from finalists who are a part of the annual FWAA All-America Team. The FWAA All-America Committee, after voting input from the entire membership, selects a 26-man first team and eventually three Outland finalists. Committee members, then by individual ballot, select the winner. Only interior linemen on offense or defense are eligible for the award; ends are not eligible.

The Outland Trophy, celebrating 79 years since its founding, is the third-oldest major college football award. Created in 1946 when Dr. John Outland presented the FWAA with a financial contribution to initiate the award, the Outland Trophy has been given to the best interior lineman in college football ever since. Dr. Outland, an All-American at the University of Pennsylvania in the late 1890s, eventually took up practice in Kansas City, Mo. An avid outdoorsman, Dr. Outland believed linemen did not get the credit they deserved and wanted an award to recognize them.

The Outland Trophy is a member of the National College Football Awards Association. Founded in 1997, the NCFAA includes college football’s most prestigious awards and its 24 awards have honored more than 900 recipients dating back to 1935. This season, 13 NCFAA awards will honor national players of the week each Tuesday.

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The Greater Omaha Sports Committee, founded in 1977, is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, consisting of more than 1,300 men and women from the City of Omaha, the State of Nebraska, and others. The Committee serves to communicate, develop, initiate and promote sports activities in the Greater Omaha sports area. In addition to the Outland Trophy Award Events and Dinner, the Greater Omaha Sports Committee promotes high school, college, and professional sports in the Greater Omaha area and the Midwest.  For more information contact Bob Mancuso Jr., Chairman at bmancuso@showofficeonline.com or see showofficeonline.com.

Founded in 1941, the Football Writers Association of America consists of 1,300 men and women who cover college football. The membership includes journalists, broadcasters and publicists, as well as key executives in all the areas that involve the game. The FWAA works to govern areas that include game-day operations, major awards and its annual All-America team. For more information about the FWAA and its award programs, contact Steve Richardson at tiger@fwaa.com.