What Tennessee’s Cooper Mays, Keenan Pili and Omari Thomas said Tuesday at SEC Media Days

What Tennessee Football players Cooper Mays , Keenan Pili and Omari Thomas said Tuesday in Dallas the Vols had their turn at SEC Media Days :

Senior Center Cooper Mays

Q. Boo Carter is someone that’s come in and made quite the impact, it seems, early on in his Vols career. How do you see him contributing this fall? And what makes him special in your eyes?

COOPER MAYS: Oh, man, I’m not sure how he’ll be used, but a special player, really athletic. You said you’re from Chattanooga. I’m sure you’re familiar. You’ve watched him. Super athletic kid. Cool kid too. Really easy to get along with, fits right in. I’m not sure how we’ll use him, but you’ve got to find ways to use somebody like that, you know.

Q. You’re up here representing the Tennessee offensive line. I want to give you a chance to talk about the other guys that are going to be starting alongside you on the offensive line this year.

COOPER MAYS: We’ve got a few guys that some positions haven’t really been figured out, but John Campbell is coming back, Javontez Spraggins, Jackson Lampley, Andrej Karic, Dayne Davis. Lance Heard is new transfer in. We’ve got a couple people in the mix for a lot of different things, but a bunch of good kids. Really good guys. You know how O-linemen are, a bunch of good guys, super talented in my opinion, and a lot of experience under our belt too.

Q. Addison Nichols transferring to Arkansas in the off-season. What stands out to you about him off the field and what does he bring to the table?

COOPER MAYS: I would say the biggest thing is he’s a guy that works really hard and fits in. I think he’s a guy that has a lot of physical tools. He’s a huge guy, really strong. Strong in the weight room, strong on the field. He’s still young, trying to put it all together, like we all are. I think he’ll have a good spot over there at Arkansas for sure.

Q. You mentioned Lance Heard. Obviously we’re pretty familiar with him at Louisiana. What do you expect from him?

COOPER MAYS: I expect him to have a great year and a great career, however that shakes out. A kid that has a lot of physical tools, huge, huge powerful guy and long arms. That’s kind of a recipe for success when it comes to O-line. Really excited to see how he grows and develops. He’s still a young kid, so he’s got a lot of stuff to get through and work through, but I think he’ll be a really, really good player.

Q. I asked Coach about Dylan Sampson, and he said he’s kind of been a leader since day one. Since now that it’s his time, what are you seeing from him and expectations from him?

COOPER MAYS: Just confidence and energy. Like you said, he’s kind of been a leader from day one. He’s really sure of himself and sure of what he’s doing. He’s confident in himself and his job. That kind of leads to you just being a natural leader anyway in the football arena. He came in day one and was prepared and ready to go for it. He’s done a really, really good job.

Q. What’s it like blocking for Nico? Kind of what do you expect from him this season? Maybe any differences from the line perspective of having Joe back there as opposed to now Nico?

COOPER MAYS: Really excited for Nico, a kid that has come in and just gotten right to work and been really humble and really a kid that’s willing to soak up any information that anybody will give him.

I don’t know if you really block for him any different. Obviously that — you can’t really think about stuff like that, but playing with a guy like him that can get out and make plays and make stuff right, it does help as an O-lineman.

Q. Is the offensive line, is that a question mark with the team? I mean, I know how you feel about your teammates, but to the fans of Tennessee. And then I want to ask about Bru McCoy and what has he done to help the team? He’s been one of the leaders out there.

COOPER MAYS: I personally, I don’t think our O-line is a question mark. I would think that it’s probably a strong point for our team, in my opinion. Kind of bias out of it in general probably, but I would say it’s a strong point.

Then as far as Bru, talk about a guy that just brings it every day. No matter what the circumstance is, no matter what’s going on outside of the building, inside the building, like just comes to work with the right attitude every day and just gets stuff done. That’s what you want out of a guy, just a consistent person, and he’s the same guy every day. Love that guy.

Q. Why is it that offensive linemen are the most fun quotes and the best guys to talk to on a team?

COOPER MAYS: We talked about this earlier. I would say the O-line is a difference maker personally because we were probably big growing up, and there’s only one way to be cool when you’re big, and that’s by being a good person, being funny, making people laugh, stuff like that.

So we’ve had ample opportunity to help our personality develop.

Q. What kind of luxuries — you mentioned the experience coming back on the offensive line. How important is it for offensive linemen to be on the same page, and what kind of luxury is it to have a bunch of guys you’re really familiar with playing alongside you?

COOPER MAYS: It’s huge. Five guys doing the one thing and being on the same page, when you’ve got a bunch of guys that have played a lot of football and seen it, it helps a lot.

We’ve got a young guy in Lance Heard that hasn’t played a ton of football, and putting people next to him that have played a ton of football or just being around somebody that knows what they’re doing, it’s invaluable.

Then when you’ve got five people like that all on the same page, it’s a game changer.

Q. We’ve been asking a lot of people about the headset communication and iPads and stuff. As an offensive lineman, is there anything that’s applicable to you all? Will that help at all in a game, or is it pretty much just iPads on the sideline?

COOPER MAYS: iPads on the sideline will be big, like you asked, that’s huge. For the communication, I wish I had something. Obviously the quarterback is going to have it, but if you could make it two, that would be pretty nice.

For us, we’ve got a high powered offense that moves really, really quick. You cut out any miscommunication, you’re just going straight to the source. I think that will be big time for us.

Redshirt Senior Linebacker Keenan Pili

Q. Can you describe Nico and his abilities to play the quarterback position and what challenges he might present a defense and to you in practice and how has he helped you be a better player?

KEENAN PILI: Yeah. I think we all know Nico. He’s very talented. The physical part is pretty easy to see when you see Nico play. One thing I’ve seen from Nico over this offseason is really his mental side of the game and his growth as a player. He’s really found a way to get some respect in the locker room, just his humility has drawn a lot of people to want him to lead, and I think that’s kind of been one of his greatest attributes so far and the way he leads us is through that.

Q. Boo Carter is someone who’s come in as a highly rated recruit. What impresses you about him and do you see him making an impact on the field this fall?

KEENAN PILI: Just the way he moves. He moves really well and makes some plays, his frame. You can tell by how he carries himself he loves football, and you can tell he cares. But I’d say most importantly those talents that he carries. The sky’s the limit for him as he goes on throughout his career.

Q. Talk about being able to bounce back from the injuries that you sustained and being one of the few to get a seventh year of eligibility in college football, what it means to be the middle backer starting for the Tennessee Volunteers.

KEENAN PILI: It means everything. It means everything. I don’t take the role lightly, the things that come with middle linebacker and the things I’m expected to do. I prepare in a way that I know my teammates will trust and respect me.

Just excited and excited to come back and play. I have been around, so I’m excited to play another year and to be here.

Q. What was your “welcome to the SEC” moment where you were like, wow, the competition here — this isn’t high school anymore.

KEENAN PILI: Yeah, man, I see it every day at practice. I remember when I first got in, you could notice for sure. I felt especially with the guys up front, the big boys. Not just big boys, them big boys move. I’d say yeah, seeing those guys work up front, seeing the chaos they create. I was like, oh, yeah.

Q. Injured in the season opener last year, but you continued to serve as team captain for the entire season. You stayed involved. Just the sort of stuff you did with the team to keep your football senses strong and how it benefitted you going into this year.

KEENAN PILI: Greatly. You kind of see the game, and I’ve had my injuries before, but being here at a new school and being able to see it from this lens, you kind of grow mentally, and especially you see the game in a different lens. You’re able to kind of see where things break down because you’re not on the field. You can see the big picture. I feel like it’s always helped me being able to zoom out a little bit, see the big picture, see what the coaches are wanting to get done. I took that year under my belt, used it to my advantage, and hopefully help me next season.

Q. What can you say about the other players at linebacker for Tennessee? Speak to what you have at that position.

KEENAN PILI: So much. We’re deep. We’re deep. Like we talk all the time with my linebackers, they’re young, but you’d never expect them to be how they are now. They’re not young. The type of work and sacrifices they make for just this room as a whole is crazy. We have tons of linebackers that can step up and do the role. That’s how much trust I have in those guys, some competitors. Every day, day in and day out, they show out the same people. That goes top to bottom, even the new guys that have come.

Q. Your teammate Omari spoke about creating turnovers. How do you practice creating turnovers individually?

KEENAN PILI: Every opportunity we get a chance in practice, whether it’s punching at a ball, trying to make a chance into an interception, reading an offense, whatever it may be, we’ve got to practice it. We talk about it all the time with Coach Banks. We go over it after every practice; hey, how many takeaways did we try to take away? How many punches at the ball did we have? How many missed takeaways did we have? So it’s constantly on our mind. I feel like the more we talk about it, the more we can speak it into our game, as well, and then fine tune it.

Redshirt Senior defensive lineman Omari Thomas

Q. What is the next step for the defense to be SEC top echelon?

OMARI THOMAS: For us, I feel like as a defense, in order for us to grow, we have to continue to create turnovers. We need to create way more turnovers than we have been, and I feel like that’s really the main step forward is that we need to create turnovers.

Q. What have you seen this offense from your defense that gives you confidence that you guys will take that next step?

OMARI THOMAS: You know, we just come in, we compete every day. We always want the best from each other, and we always push the best, whether that’s offense winning some days, defense winning some days. But we know as a team, as a whole, we know what we can do as a team, and we look forward to doing that.

Q. Boo Carter is someone who’s come in with a lot of hype, a big time recruit from the area. What have you seen from him that’s impressed you the most, and do you feel you can contribute on the field this season?

OMARI THOMAS: I feel like Boo has come in with a mindset as a young guy wanting to learn, wanting to be great, wanting to actually be on that field this year, his freshman year, and you see that in a guy who’s putting in the extra work, looking up to older guys and is always hanging out with older guys just trying to learn the way fast so he’s able to be on the field and help us. He’s a great athlete. He’s going to make a bunch of plays for us, so it’s great to see a guy like Boo doing that.

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