Tennessee Vols offensive lineman Cooper Mays, UT's starting center, made his season debut on Saturday against South Carolina. 

Mays missed Tennessee's first four games of the season after undergoing surgery to repair three hernias and an abdominal wall repair (according to a report last month from VolQuest). 

Despite not playing in a regular season game since the Vols' win against Clemson in the Orange Bowl last season, Mays played 70 of 74 snaps in Tennessee's 41-20 win against South Carolina on Saturday night. 

Mays joined Off the Hook Sports with Dave Hooker after the win against the Gamecocks to discuss the game and his return to the field. 

Hooker asked Mays how difficult it was to get into good enough shape to handle Tennessee's up-tempo approach. 

Mays told Hooker that he did his best to stay conditioned while he was away from the field, while also noting that he drank some beet juice before the South Carolina game to increase the oxygen in his blood. 

"The times I wasn't able to do football contact, because if my injury, I was able to run and do stuff like that in the pool," said Mays. "I did a lot of that stuff, working on my conditioning, before coming back." 

"Drink some beet juice before you go out, gives you a little bit more oxygen in your blood," added Mays. 

The beet juice must legitimately help because Mays admitted that it's disgusting to drink (sorry if there are any beet juice aficionados reading this). 

"It's about the end result, not the process," noted Mays. "It's terrible. It almost makes me throw up every time." 

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I don't know if this was something unique that Mays tried because of the time that he spent away from football or if it's something that everyone on Tennessee's roster does before games. But it definitely sounds terrible — though maybe it works since Mays essentially played the entire game. 

Speaking of playing the entire game, Mays definitely deserves some credit for giving his all for Tennessee on Saturday night. Playing the entire game with that kind of tempo is an accomplishment for any football player. The fact that Mays did it when everyone else had a four week head start is even more impressive. 

The Vols are off next Saturday before hosting Texas A&M in Knoxville. The bye week will give Mays an extra week to get ready (he told Hooker he was hurting a bit after his first game back) before a huge showdown against the Aggies. 

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