Cade Mays pondered the question for only a moment. What’s the best compliment that anyone could pay him as a key member of Georgia’s offensive line?

The response he gave came as little surprise.

“I would say the best thing that someone could say about me is just that I play hard and that I love the game,” Mays said. “And that I just want to finish people.”

It’s that final comment that sums up Mays, who at 6-foot-6 and 318 pounds, whose hard-scrabble ways hasn’t been lost on his teammates, most notably to those who have to go against him in practice every day.

“He has a grinder mentality. It’s a dog-eat-dog world with him when he’s out there,” nose guard Michael Barnett said. “It’s every day with him. Team run, it’s downhill, Cade’s trying to take your head off, just like everybody on that O-line. You’ve got to get your mind right when you go against them.”

Left guard Solomon Kindley is just glad he's on his side.

“Cade is tremendous,” Kindley said. “He can go to center, he can go to left tackle, he can go to guard. We might have him go to receiver and have him catch a few passes.”

Mays is arguably the most versatile member of Georgia’s offensive line, having seen action at both left and right tackle, along with right and left guard.

He’s now added center to his repertoire.

Although Trey Hill, Clay Webb, and Warren Ericson figure to be the top three at the position, Mays has received his share of reps this fall and has proven that in a pinch he can play there as well.

“I like being that useful. If anything happens, I’m the guy who can be plugged in. Anything that happens, I’m the guy. It’s definitely helped me to learn the center spot,” Mays said. “It’s helped me learn the offense better, knowing what everybody else is doing. I don’t think it’s slowed me down. I think it’s picked my game up and elevated it to a new level.”

Head coach Kirby Smart said Mays needs to be ready to play any spot.

“He’s an athlete, but we can’t let that be a detriment to him, because if he can be in the starting five, he needs to be in the starting five,” Smart said. “But his value also is that he can snap, and he’s an athletic center. If you play center, left tackle, and guard, you’re pretty talented, and you’re bright.

“He’s really tough, man. He plays hard. He plays tough and physical.”

Defensive tackle Tyler Clark can attest to that.

“I knew Cade was going to be good when he first got here,” Clark said. “He enrolled early. I think we were practicing for the national championship; he came off the ball and I was like --oo-kaaayy--he’s going to be ready.”

Mays started seven games for the Bulldogs as a freshman, his first coming at left tackle for an injured Andrew Thomas against Middle Tennessee before starting six straight games at right guard after Ben Cleveland went down with a broken leg against Missouri.

A shoulder injury would cost Mays games against UMass, Georgia Tech and Alabama, but after seeing limited action against Texas in the Sugar Bowl, quickly worked himself back into top shape and is currently battling Cleveland for the starting job at right guard.

“I kind of played everything my whole life, starting in youth ball. My dad (Kevin Mays), when we were playing youth ball, any time we were running to the left, he put me on the left side,” Mays said. “Any time we were running to the right, he put me on the right side. It’s kind of been that way my whole life. I’ve played both sides.”

A former five-star competitor, Mays shook up his hometown of Knoxville when he de-committed from Tennessee – where is father was an All-SEC guard and offensive captain in 1994 at Tennessee – to sign with the Bulldogs.

Although the aftermath was difficult from the perspective of dealing with angry Vol fans, Mays said everything worked well in the end.

“It actually wasn’t very difficult for my family. They supported me from Day 1 and told me if you want to be in California, we’ll be there for every game, we’ll make it work no matter what,” Mays said. “They’ve supported me in whatever decision was best for me. I’m just thankful they’ve supported me the way they did. I’m thankful for that.”