Recruiting analyst is skeptical that Tennessee Vols lead for elite 5-star recruiting target
For the second straight weekend, the Tennessee Vols will host 2025 five-star offensive lineman David Sanders Jr on an unofficial visit. Sanders, 6-foot-6/270 lbs from Charlotte, NC, is rated in 247Sports' composite rankings as the No. 1 offensive tackle in the nation and the No. 1 player in the state of North Carolina. The highly […]
For the second straight weekend, the Tennessee Vols will host 2025 five-star offensive lineman David Sanders Jr on an unofficial visit.
Sanders, 6-foot-6/270 lbs from Charlotte, NC, is rated in 247Sports' composite rankings as the No. 1 offensive tackle in the nation and the No. 1 player in the state of North Carolina.
The highly coveted recruit was in Knoxville last weekend for an unofficial visit and he'll return this weekend for the Vols' annual spring game.
Sanders has an official visit to Tennessee scheduled for later this summer.
After two straight visits to Tennessee, it's fair to ask if the Vols have vaulted up the leaderboard in the battle for Sanders.
Rivals.com recruiting analyst Adam Friedman, however, is skeptical that Tennessee will lead for Sanders after his back-to-back visits to Rocky Top.
Friedman suggested on Friday that it's "fiction" that Tennessee will lead for Sanders entering the second half of April.
From Rivals.com: Sanders making back-to-back visits to Knoxville is certainly good news for the Volunteers but taking the lead could be a bit of a stretch at this point. Official visits are really going to tell the story of his recruitment when the time comes. Georgia and Clemson have built a sizable lead on the field, although Ohio State had some serious momentum coming off of his recent visit. By the time Sanders goes to make his decision he’ll have seen practices at each of his final contenders and have taken official visits to each of them so there's still a lot of work to be done, even by his perceived favorites.
Friedman is probably right that it's "fiction" that Tennessee will lead for Sanders after these two visits.
But that's not because the Vols did a bad job or aren't very much in the mix. Instead, it's because Sanders still has several visits to make, including his official visits, before making a final decision. It's probably fair to suggest that no one leads for Sanders at this point, despite the speculation that Clemson and Georgia are out in front in this recruiting battle.
Tennessee is swinging big in this battle. They're putting the full court press on Sanders. If the Vols don't end up winning this battle, it'll be a situation where there isn't much more that they could've done. Sometimes it just doesn't work out.
But for now, the Vols are absolutely in this recruiting battle. And they could very well be the last team standing when Sanders signs in December, regardless of whether or not Friedman thinks Tennessee leads in April.
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