KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Cooper Mays was once recruited and offered a scholarship to Georgia to come play with his older brother, Cade Mays, at Georgia.

The No. 1-ranked Bulldogs ultimately prioritized Sedrick Van Pran — the No. 1-ranked prep center — and Cooper chose to stay home in Knoxville and play with Tennessee.

It’s one more storyline in the showdown between Georgia and Tennessee at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday in Neyland Stadium (TV: CBS).

That led former FWAA Freshman All-American Cade Mays to transfer from Georgia back to Tennessee to play alongside Cooper.

Cooper Mays said this week he stays in touch with Georgia guard Tate Ratledge, as the two were close during their time as recruits, and a win over Georgia would be very special to him and his program.

“Tennessee is working to put our program back on top, and this is one of our big stepping stones, is getting a win over them,” Cooper Mays said. “I’ve gotten a win over all the Big Three other than Georgia, so trying to put that together.

“I think everyone is gong to be going out ready to play.”

Coach Kirby Smart acknowledged the Tennessee rivalry is a big one.

“Every week we talk about rivalries, and it’s really relative to where the opponent is,” Smart said. “So if you draw a line around our state, the five states that touch us, that we are contiguous with, are unique.”

Smart said the Bulldogs have players that value the Tennessee rivalry, too.

“The Ladd McConkeys and Tate Ratledges of the world, this is their big rivalry,” Smart said, “because they are North Georgia kids, they grew up across the state line from Tennessee, and there’s a lot of Tennessee fans in North Georgia.

“It’s a great rivalry, it’s a historic rivalry, it’s one that was really competitive in the 2000s. When I wasn’t here, it went back and forth a lot.”