Josh Heupel’s comments about Vols offensive tackle David Sanders should end any speculation on why the true freshman hasn’t played yet
Tennessee Vols true freshman offensive tackle David Sanders Jr. has yet to play this season. Sanders, a former five-star recruit, has missed Tennessee’s first three games of the season while dealing with an unspecified injury. The Charlotte, NC, native reportedly suffered the injury a couple of days before the Vols’ season-opener against Syracuse. The initial […]
Tennessee Vols true freshman offensive tackle David Sanders Jr. has yet to play this season.
Sanders, a former five-star recruit, has missed Tennessee’s first three games of the season while dealing with an unspecified injury.
The Charlotte, NC, native reportedly suffered the injury a couple of days before the Vols’ season-opener against Syracuse.
The initial feeling was that Sanders would make his debut in Week 2 against East Tennessee State.
When Sanders didn’t return for the ETSU game or the Georgia game this past weekend, some fans began speculating that “other reasons” (such as an NIL dispute) might be behind the talented offensive lineman’s absence.
Josh Heupel’s comments about David Sanders should end any speculation about the offensive lineman’s reason for missing the first 3 games of the season
Vols head coach Josh Heupel met with reporters on Monday, and he was asked about Sanders’ injury.
The fifth-year Tennessee head coach didn’t reveal the exact nature of Sanders’ injury, but he made it clear that the decision on whether the offensive lineman plays has been left up to the medical staff.
“[It’s a] unique injury that, you know, doctors are uncertain,” said Heupel. “That’s why he’s kind of been day-to-day for a while here and uncertain. It’s not like a sprained ankle — and I say that meaning there’s not a definitive timeline — and so he’s been having to fight through that. Guy wants to be out there. It hurts him badly.
“He’s not, I’m going to say, in control of it,” continued Heupel. “Our medical staff is doing everything that they can. It’s a little bit of an unknown timeframe. He could wake up tomorrow and be ready to go. Obviously, he’s had some time, some healing. We hope that happens before we get to Saturday (against UAB).”
So there you have it — there’s nothing fishy at all going on with Sanders (and there was never any evidence that there was). It’s simply an unpredictable injury that’s unfortunately kept the stud offensive lineman off the field thus far.
We’ll see if the former five-star recruit can make his debut this upcoming weekend against UAB.
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