David Sanders Jr.’s collegiate commitment is right around the corner as the Vols look to land the top remaining uncommitted prospect in the 2025 class.
On Monday, Sanders announced his plan for the upcoming decision.
Sanders will commit on Saturday, Aug. 17th, at 12:30 p.m. ET from the Providence Day Gymnasium in Charlotte, N.C.
Sanders has a final four of Tennessee, Georgia, Nebraska, and Ohio State.
I will be committing this Saturday!
Where: Providence Day Gymnasium (The Mac)
Time: 12:30
Everyone is welcome! See you there 🙏🏿 pic.twitter.com/63BsgqATVs
— David Sanders Jr. (@DavidLSandersJr) August 12, 2024
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Sanders is a blue-chip prospect in the class of 2025 and would be a massive addition to Josh Heupel’s 2025 recruiting class. Standing at 6-foot-6, 290 pounds, Sanders is a dominant offensive tackle with a bright future ahead.
247 Composite rankings have Sanders as the No. 2 overall player, the No. 1 offensive tackle in the class, and the No. 1 player from the state of North Carolina.
Tennessee’s hard work this year in Sanders’ recruitment looks to be paying off in the final few days before his announcement this weekend. The Vols have made a concerted effort to get Sanders on campus this year with five trips since the start of 2024. Tennessee’s efforts on the recruiting trail have the Vols “setting the pace” in Sanders’ recruitment, according to On3 Director of Recruiting Chad Simmons.
Things looked to really swing in Tennessee’s direction on Friday, though. Tennessee landed four expert predictions from On3 insiders to close out the work week with projections from VP of Recruiting Steve Willtfong, Director of Recruiting Chad Simmons, CFB insider Pete Nakos, and Nebraska insider Sean Callahan. The four predictions on Friday boosted Tennessee in the Recruiting Prediction Machine from 27.9 percent to 82.0 percent in just one day. Ohio State trails Tennessee at just 4.5 percent.
“Obviously we’re now in the home stretch, he’s going to commit on the 17th,” Wiltfong said for On3 on Friday. “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.”
Tennessee also holds the lone Crystal Ball prediction from 247 Sports recruiting analyst Anna Adams as she locked in her prediction on Saturday morning.
Sanders will be the Vols’ top-ranked commit in the 2025 class if he does wind up selecting Tennessee on Saturday. The Vols have boasted a solid offensive line the past few seasons and have sent two offensive linemen to the NFL Draft under Josh Heupel and Glen Elarbee with sixth-round pick Cade Mays in 2022 and 10th overall pick Darnell Wright in 2023. Tennessee will surely add to that number during the 2025 NFL Draft as well.
Sanders was named the 2023 North Carolina Gatorade Player of the Year and earned Second Team All-American honors from MaxPreps as a junior. Sanders spent the 2023 season blocking for Michigan quarterback Jadyn Davis as the offense tallied more than 3,700 passing yards and 8.6 yards per rushing attempt, according to 247 Sports.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider on Saturday for more on David Sanders Jr.’s announcement.
