[2] He attended Livingston High School where he played football, ran track, and competed in power-lifting.

[3] Mays graduated from Livingston High School and with the lack of recruiting offers on the table, chose to attend and play for Tyler Junior College.

However, his time there proved to be short lived as an off the field incident lead to his dismissal from the school and the team.

[3] Feeling that his football career was over, he took a job working construction and taking courses at a nearby campus of his hometown.

[3] However, following that season the head coach of the team, Ronny Feldon was fired and Mays found himself sitting on the bench without an opportunity to play in a very pass-oriented offense.

[3] During this time he ran for 557 rushing yards and three touchdowns in six games, allowing him to catch the attention of Utah State.

Zierlein also expressed concern about his reoccurring injury history and his hesitation for hitting certain running lanes.