Tennessee center Cooper Mays returned to the field in Saturday's 41-20 win over South Carolina, solidifying an offensive line that paved the way for 238 rushing yards.  

The return put an end to questions about his return that had lingered for weeks.   

Mays reportedly underwent hernia repair surgery in August, which sidelined him for the first four games of the season.  Mays had been in consideration to return as early as the Florida game, per comments from Josh Heupel each week at his press conference.  However, Mays remained out until last Saturday.  

So the next question is evident: when did Mays feel he was ready to return?  Mays met with the media on Wednesday and answered that question. 

"Earlier in the week," Mays said.  "We have our padded practices, and kind of the first day that I got out there in pads and did the whole thing.  Felt pretty confident in myself.  Felt pretty comfortable in my shoes and where my feet were.  So probably earlier in the week I found a good gauge of where I was at." 

Regarding the speculation raised each week among fans and media about Mays' availability, Mays said he tuned it out.  

"I just didn't really deal with it.  Just kind of turned a blind eye to it.  Kind of turned my head.  You can't really focus on what everybody is saying outside of the building, and that's preached by our coaching staff.  Is that all that matters is right here in this building.  So that's where my ears were listening and that's where my eyes were looking at, so it didn't really bother me too much."

Mays, who admitted he's been a little bit sore, added that while some people would ask about his status, he managed to keep busy inside the football facility most of the time. 

"People would ask, yeah, but I'm not out too much.  I'm busy with football here, so not too much." 

Mays also talked about the challenge of getting back to the level of conditioning during his recovery process that he needed to play in Tennessee's high-paced offense. 

"It was tough.  Just something that we kind of harped on in my recovery process was making sure that I do everything I can to stay conditioned and get ready for whenever I do come back and play, making sure I was ready for the task at hand.  So, it was a big focus of ours, and I think I we did a pretty good job." 

Now, Mays and the rest of the offensive line can turn the page and focus on gelling together as a unit as major challenges await against Texas A&M and Alabama after the bye week. 

Tennessee WR Bru McCoy still making an impact in Knoxville after injury

The Vols star is continuing his work to help the Knoxville community