Tennessee could round out the class in a big way.
After a spring and summer full of visits, five-star offensive tackle David Sanders is ready to make his decision. The top-ranked uncommitted player left on the board will decide between four finalists — Tennessee, Ohio State, Nebraska and Georgia.
Sanders will make his announcement on Saturday, August 17th. He has set a rough target of 1:15 p.m. ET. The event will be streamed live on the 247Sports YouTube page.
FINAL 4️⃣ WHERE’S HOME ⁉️ pic.twitter.com/fVVazg8ast
— David Sanders Jr. (@DavidLSandersJr) July 7, 2024
According to the 247Sports Composite rankings, Sanders is the second-ranked player in the class of 2025. The 6-6, 290 pound prospect is the top player in the state of North Carolina, coming out of the Charlotte era.
Sanders narrowed his choices down to four in the summer after taking a big string of visits. South Carolina, Clemson and Alabama all fell out of the race, while Tennessee and Nebraska hosted him one final time back in late July. Sanders was in Knoxville on campus with several of the Vols’ top prospects, including five-star quarterbacks George MacIntyre and Faizon Brandon.
Sanders is a multi-sport athlete, competing in basketball, discus and shot put at Providence Day School. He’s regarded as an extremely athletic prospect with big upside, especially considering his obvious room to continue to fill out. Despite maybe being on the light side right now, Sanders’ power is obvious and impressive. The highlights below flash a that mean streak as he finishes block after block in the run game.
Tennessee has been white hot on the trail to end the summer. Josh Heupel and company have really put the bow on this cycle, flipping four-star tight end Da’Saahn Brame from Oregon and adding four-star defenders Christian Gass and Lagonza Hayward. The Volunteers have steamed forward into the top ten of the class rankings, and another win on Saturday would push them closer to the top five.
Tennessee holds 21 commitments in their class of 2025 to this point. That includes highly-ranked four-star tackle Douglas Utu, along with fellow four-star guard Nic Moore. Adding Sanders to that group would give Glen Elarbee quite the group to start developing next offseason.
Sanders, who has received a couple of crystal ball projections in Tennessee’s favor, will wrap up a long recruiting process this weekend.