Five-star offensive tackle David Sanders Jr. committed to Tennessee football over a top group that included Georgia, Nebraska and Ohio State on Saturday afternoon.
Sanders has long been one of the Vols’ top targets in the 2025 recruiting cycle and was a hard fought recruiting battle over the last year.
The 6-foot-6, 290-pound offensive tackle ranks as a five-star recruit and the No. 2 player in the country according to the 247sports composite rankings. The Charlotte also ranks as the top offensive tackle in the country and the top player in the state of North Carolina in the 2025 recruiting cycle.
Tennessee won the long recruiting battle for Sanders in large part because of how frequently he made the trip across the mountains to Knoxville. Sanders took seven total visits to Tennessee including six in the last 12 months and five this calendar year.
The blue-chip offensive lineman took eight total visits to Clemson, six visits to Georgia, five visits to Alabama, four visits to both South Carolina and Ohio State and two visits to Nebraska.
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Sanders is entering his senior football season at Providence Day School in Charlotte. That is the same school that former Tennessee basketball star Grant Williams attended. Josh Heupel and his staff have had an abundance of success recruiting the state of North Carolina.
According to the 247sports composite rankings, Tennessee landed the No. 5 player in North Carolina in the 2022 recruiting cycle (James Pearce Jr), the No. 2 (Daevin Hobbs) and No. 3 (Nathan Leacock) players in the 2023 recruiting cycle and already have the No. 3 player in North Carolina (Faizon Brandon) in the 2026 recruiting cycle.
With Sanders in the fold, Tennessee’s 2025 recruiting cycle currently contains 22 commitments including from four offensive linemen. Offensive line recruiting was a weakness for Tennessee in Heupel’s first few seasons as head coach but has become a strength over the last two cycle.
Sanders commitment bumps Tennessee’s recruiting class from No. 8 to No. 6 nationally according to the 247sports team rankings. The Vols recruiting class currently ranks fifth in the SEC.
