Vols insider points out how Tennessee is taking advantage of a big recruiting opportunity
One of the Tennessee Vols' top 2025 recruiting targets is five-star offensive lineman David Sanders, the No. 2 overall player in the nation. Sanders, 6-foot-6/270 lbs, is from Charlotte, NC. The Vols are battling Clemson and Georgia, along with several other programs, for the elite offensive tackle. On Friday, VolQuest's Brent Hubbs joined 104.5 The […]
One of the Tennessee Vols' top 2025 recruiting targets is five-star offensive lineman David Sanders, the No. 2 overall player in the nation.
Sanders, 6-foot-6/270 lbs, is from Charlotte, NC.
The Vols are battling Clemson and Georgia, along with several other programs, for the elite offensive tackle.
On Friday, VolQuest's Brent Hubbs joined 104.5 The Zone's "Ramon, Kayla, and Will" and he discussed Sanders' recruitment along with a recruiting opportunity that Tennessee is taking advantage of under Josh Heupel.
"He's (Sanders) scheduled to be here (at Tennessee) in March and (Vols commit) George MacIntyre will be here," explained Hubbs. "George is working that one really hard. I think Tennessee's done a good job with David Sanders….he's got in-depth knowledge about Tennessee. He's done a lot of research on them. Tennessee's really worked that relationship hard. Georgia's [also] working that relationship hard. He is a big-time talent."
Hubbs' comments about Sanders led to a discussion about Tennessee's recruiting presence in the state of North Carolina. Specifically, the way the Vols are taking advantage of some fertile recruiting grounds with NC State struggling in the NIL world and UNC head coach Mack Brown nearing the end of his career.
"I think the big takeaway from the state of North Carolina is, as has always been the case, there's talent there," said Hubbs. "I think Tennessee's done a good job establishing some relationships with these guys in the 2025 and 2026 classes. And I think North Carolina is a good place to go right now, because we don't know how much longer Mack Brown is going to be the coach at North Carolina. Duke's got a new coach. Dave Doeren at NC State has come out and said on multiple occasions 'hey, I need money, we don't have enough NIL funds'. So can you (Tennessee) go in and get some prospects that way?"
"Clemson's not played in the NIL world, even though they've gone up to North Carolina through the years and been successful [under] Dabo Swinney" added Hubbs. "So I think it's a good place to go. The one thing that Phillip Fulmer did a great job of when he was the head coach, his footprint in recruiting was like an amoeba — it kind of just morphed into where openings were. He did a really good job of that. South Carolina and Clemson are down, let's go work South Carolina. LSU's not very good, we'll go work Louisiana."
"When you look at where it's at right now, Georgia's a hard nut to crack. Now, there's a lot of really good players down there. But Georgia can come in and get basically whoever they want in state. Alabama's always been that way. Ole Miss is doing a good job in the state of Mississippi. LSU is getting who they want in Louisiana. So where do you shift to a little bit? Well, North Carolina and Virginia are two places you can go. And I think you're seeing Tennessee be more active and more aggressive in those two states. And I think it's a smart move in Tennessee's recruiting footprint. And it starts in North Carolina where there's some good players. They've had some success in Virginia the last couple of years, I look for them to be pretty active in the state of Virginia as well."
The Vols landed superstar edge rusher James Pearce out of North Carolina during the 2022 recruiting cycle. In 2023, the Vols signed two four-star players out of North Carolina in Daevin Hobbs and Nathan Leacock. And they're targeting some big names from North Carolina, like David Sanders, in the 2025 class.
For the Vols to be successful, they obviously have to own the state of Tennessee. But they have to go outside the borders, too. And the Vols are being wise by not trying to force their way into states where it's tougher to win recruiting battles. Now, that doesn't mean they're avoiding those areas — Tennessee just scored big recruiting wins in Alabama and Georgia by landing Jordan Ross and Mike Matthews in the 2024 cycle — it just means they're putting a little more focus on a state like North Carolina where there's a huge opportunity to make some noise.
Tennessee is taking a smart approach under Heupel. And as Hubbs mentioned, it's similar to the approach that Fulmer took when he was the head coach of the Vols. It paid off with a championship for Fulmer, maybe the same strategy will pay off in the same way for Heupel.
