California quarterback Nate Longshore met Jerod Mayo twice on Saturday. Joe Ayoob met Mayo once.

If the two Golden Bears didn’t know him before Saturday’s trip to Neyland Stadium, they certainly do now.

So do a lot of people, even if they didn’t get a taste of turf that comes with a Mayo introduction.

The sophomore linebacker’s seven tackles and three sacks earned him the Walter Camp Football Foundation’s national defensive player of the week award.

Mayo received a similar honor from the SEC.

After just his second career start, people are starting to notice JerodMayo the linebacker.

Not many know Jerod Mayo, the gift-giver.

Unlike the presents Longshore and Ayoob got in the Vols’ 35-18 victory Saturday, Mayo also gives the kind you’d like to get.

When he went home to Hampton, Va., following Tennessee’s win over Texas A&M in the 2005 Cotton Bowl, he was a 6-foot-2, 230-pound Santa Claus.

"He gave all of his bowl gifts to his family," said Tommy Austin, Mayo’s coach at Kecoughtan High School. "The iPod, the watch — he gave his mom something. He thought of everybody else but Jerod."

Mayo didn’t keep a single thing from his only bowl trip — not even the shirt off his back.

Mayo’s game jersey from the Cotton Bowl is framed and hanging on the wall of Austin’s office.

"I’m always looking to the future," Mayo said. "Gifts I get, stuff like that, those material type things, those things fade away. I try to give them away. The memories I make here, they’ll last a lifetime. That’s what I focus my energy on."

Starting with his sophomore season in high school, Mayo became a one-sport athlete to focus all his energy on football.

The focus has never been on himself, says Austin.

As a senior at Kecoughtan, Mayo watched his team stumble to a 1-2 start.

He went into his coach’s office and asked to play running back, despite the fact Virginia, Virginia Tech, Tennessee and others were recruiting him as a linebacker.

Austin told him the risk of injury would be great, and that it wasn’t worth risking his football future.

"He said, ‘If it helps us win, I’ll play the whole game,’ " Austin said. "Offense was not his thing."

Only Mayo made it his thing, rushing for 1,300 yards in the next seven games. Kecoughtan went 6-1 with Mayo playing nearly every snap.

At UT, it took Mayo a little longer to crack the rotation behind veterans like Kevin Simon, Jason Mitchell and Omar Gaither.

He redshirted in 2004 and started the Florida game in 2005 but missed the Ole Miss game and the last four games of the season after having surgery to repair a torn ligament in his knee.

"We felt all along that he was going to be a really good football player for us if we could get him healthy," UT defensive coordinator and linebackers coach John Chavis said. "And that’s what we’ve got to do: Get him healthy. We’re fortunate to have someone like Rico McCoy playing the same position when both of them are full-speed and healthy, it might force us to do something different."

In fall camp, Mayo suffered a left-ankle injury and didn’t have one day of full practice last week before the opener. On the second play of his second start Saturday against Cal, he tweaked the ankle when an offensive lineman cut-blocked him.

Mayo was replaced for a spell by McCoy, but came back to post the Vols’ first three-sack game since Simon did it against Marshall in 2003.

But it wasn’t just Mayo in that first game. UT’s linebackers finished 1-2-3 in tackles Saturday.

Senior Marvin Mitchell had seven tackles, including two for losses, in helping the Vols limit Cal’s offense to 64 rushing yards.

Junior Ryan Karl led the team in tackles with nine in his first career start.

"I think the important thing to remember with all that is he wasn’t the only one on the field," UT coach Phillip Fulmer said. "There were 10 other guys and the coverage was good, and I know at least in one case, somebody pushed the quarterback to him with a good rush.

"But Jerod’s going to be a good player. He’s really going to be a good player."

The 106,009 at Saturday’s game got a glimpse. A national television audience got its introduction as well.

Back in Virginia he doesn’t need any introduction.

To Austin’s 5-year-old daughter, Bobbie Lee, he’s "my Jerod."

"He’s been like a big brother and hasn’t forgotten them," Austin said.

He hasn’t forgotten his brothers, either.

Deron is a redshirt freshman safety at Hofstra, and his youngest brother is a starter at Kecoughtan.

Mayo is busy trying to set an example. Saturday was a good start on the field.

Off the field, he’s been doing it for a long time.

"He’s just a good man, away from the game," Austin says. "He realizes that life is more than just football.

"He doesn’t want people to tell him how good he is, he just wants to do his job and help his team."

Drew Edwards covers University of Tennessee football. He may be reached at 865-342-6274.