The race for the recruitment of five-star prospect David Sanders Jr. is approaching the final turn.
The top-tier offensive tackle from the 2025 class is set to announce his decision on Saturday, Aug. 17, as he chooses between Tennessee, Ohio State, Nebraska, and Georgia. Recent reports from On3 Sports suggest that the Bulldogs could be on the outside looking in, though, with the Vols, Buckeyes, and Huskers as the true final three.
On Tuesday, On3 Director of Recruiting Chad Simmons penned out his belief Tennessee has been “setting the pace” for Sanders’ recruitment but noted that Ohio State was still a “strong contender” while Nebraska has been working to “become a factor late” in the process.
Saturday added more optimistic news in Tennessee’s direction from On3’s camp.
On3 VP of Recruiting Steve Wiltfong logged a prediction for Tennessee to land Sanders next Saturday at a 60 percent confidence level. Wiltfong agrees that Ohio State and Nebraska can’t be dismissed by any stretch but that his best guess suggests the Vols.
“Obviously we’re now in the home stretch, he’s going to commit on the 17th,” Wiltfong said for On3. “To my knowledge, no final decision has been made, no school has been alerted, they’re still having dialogue with all three of them and these programs are going to get the chance to make a final pitch. Talking to all my sources and adding up the intel, my best guess today would be Tennessee. But I’ve also at times had my best guess on Ohio State.”
On3’s Chad Simmons, Pete Nakos, and Sean Callahan also dropped 60 percent confidence predictions for Tennessee on Friday based on the insider prediction log.
Tennessee has done well to get Sanders on campus this summer and the Vols’ fanbase has added support. Prior to Sanders’ visit to Rocky Top in late July, Tennessee fans painted up The Rock for his arrival.
As a consensus five-star and Top 6 prospect in the 2024 recruiting class, Sanders comes in as the highest-ranked uncommitted player in On3’s rankings. On3’s industry rankings have Sanders as the No. 2 overall player, the No. 1 offensive tackle, and the No. 1 player from the state of North Carolina.
Sanders has no Crystal Ball prediction from 247Sports at this time after a previous prediction to Clemson in March was taken off the board recently. On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine, on the other hand, has skyrocketed in Tennessee’s favor since Tuesday. While Tennessee led the race at 27.9 percent compared to Ohio State’s 20.6 percent earlier in the week, the Vols have now shot up to 82.0 percent with Ohio State back at 4.5 percent. It’s important to note that predictions are not always a guarantee of what will come.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for more Tennessee football recruiting news.
