OT David Sanders, Commits To Tennessee Volunteers Football No4 Recruit In 2025 Class.
Five-star offensive tackle David Sanders, the top uncommitted prospect in the 2025 class, committed to Tennessee on Saturday afternoon, landing with the Volunteers as the top-ranked prospect in the program’s rising 2025 recruiting class and the highest-rated pledge of the Josh Heupel era.
Tennessee beat Ohio State, Nebraska and Georgia in the chase for the No. 4 recruit in the 2025 ESPN 300, securing Sanders’ pledge in the latest of a series of high-profile summer commitments for the Volunteers.
Sanders, a 6-foot-6, 250-pound blocker from Charlotte, North Carolina, enters his senior season at Charlotte’s Providence Day School as the reigning North Carolina Gatorade Player of the Year after leading the program to its third straight NCISAA state title in 2023.
With Sanders’ decision made, five-star defensive tackle Elijah Griffin (No. 5 in the ESPN 300) becomes the top uncommitted prospect in the 2025 cycle, based on ESPN rankings.
For Sanders, Saturday’s pledge marked the culmination of a lengthy recruitment that began just after his freshman season in late 2021; included visits to SEC, Big Ten and ACC powers; and closed this week with last-minute pushes from some of the nation’s top programs before his announcement inside the gym at Providence Day.
At the end of a nearly three-year process, Sanders told ESPN his commitment swung on the environment within the Tennessee football program, his relationships with Heupel and offensive line coach Glen Elarbee and a comfort found in the hilly confines of the school’s Knoxville campus.
“The scenery is really nice up there,” Sanders said. “Obviously the connection with coach Heupel and coach Elarbee helped a lot, and it feels like this will be a second home for me. Providence Day has a family feel. Going there, I get the same feeling.
The No. 1 offensive tackle in the 2025 class, Sanders is the latest addition to one of the elite offensive line classes being constructed in the current cycle, joining five-star offensive tackle Douglas Utu (No. 13 in the ESPN 300) and four-star offensive guard Nic Moore (No. 237), another pair of key commitments in Tennessee’s productive summer on the recruiting trail.
Sanders is the highest-rated pledge of Heupel’s tenure at Tennessee, topping a previous high set when the Volunteers signed five-star wide receiver Mike Matthews (No. 23 in the 2024 ESPN 300) in the last cycle. If Sanders signs with Tennessee, he will mark the program’s highest-ranked addition since the Volunteers landed No. 1 overall prospect Trey Smith in the 2017 class.