Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel confirmed on Wednesday night during Vol Calls that senior center Cooper Mays will be out for UT's game against Austin Peay on Saturday. 

Mays has been out since undergoing a procedure early last month. 

"Coop, he’s been with us on the field," said Heupel during Vol Calls. "We will not play him in this one (against Austin Peay). That’s just in preparation for the following week, make sure that he’s 100 percent." 

Based on Heupel's comment, it sounds like Tennessee is hoping that Mays is back for the Vols' showdown with the Florida Gators in Gainesville on September 16. 

But it's not a certainty that Mays will be good to go for the matchup with Florida in the Swamp. 

VolQuest's Brent Hubbs, a Vols insider, joined 104.5 The Zone's Ramon, Kayla, and Will on Friday morning and he gave the latest on Mays as the senior from Knoxville works to get ready for a big game against the Gators. 

Click here to accept Marketing cookies and load this content

"We'll see on Cooper," said Hubbs when asked about Mays' status for the Florida game. "Cooper has done more stuff in the last three days than he's done since he had the procedure. He'll do some rehab stuff this weekend. We'll see where he's at Monday and Tuesday of next week. That's going to be just how does he feel? What kind of pain is he dealing with? Are the doctors and the surgeon going to clear him for contact and all those types of things? And that's a decision that, quite frankly, is a bit out of Cooper's hands."

It sounds like Mays is going to do all he can to be ready for Florida, but the decision will ultimately be left to medical professionals. 

Hubbs also gave an update on sophomore wide receiver Squirrel White, who left Tennessee's win against Virginia after getting banged up. 

"Squirrel's fine," noted Hubbs. "Squirrel's going to be fine. The only issue is Squirrel's not real big and so the concern is that he may get banged up from time to time. They may be cautious with him this week (against Austin Peay), but he should be 100 percent ready to go when they go to Gainesville." 

That's positive news for Squirrel, though Vols fans should probably anticipate him being on the sidelines this weekend a bit more than usual. If that's the case, it's simply an effort to keep the dynamic wide receiver healthy. 

Tennessee's matchup against Austin Peay is their last chance to fine-tune the offense and the defense before a massive game against Florida that will teach us a lot about who the Vols are this season. 

Vols fans will love what RB Dylan Sampson told his teammates about playing Alabama in 2023

Tennessee Vols fans will love what running back Dylan Sampson told his teammates about playing Alabama in 2023

Featured image via Saul Young/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK