Battered Vol Syndrome can creep onto the recruiting trail too, so when something doesn’t go to plan, Tennessee fans won’t so easily not worry. Such is the situation with the Vols and their biggest commitment since they landed Eric Berry.
Five-star offensive lineman David Sanders Jr., who committed to UT in August, won’t sign Wednesday, the first day of the Early Signing Period, Tom Loy of 247Sports and Adam Friedman of Rivals are both reporting. Sanders visited the Ohio State Buckeyes two Saturdays ago. However, Friedman added that the Vols have nothing to worry about.
Heading into the final week of the regular season, all signs were there that Sanders would flip to Ohio State after witnessing their thumping of the Indiana Hoosiers on hand. However, a couple of things after that muddy the waters, most notably OSU losing to the Michigan Wolverines at home the next week.
While the loss itself may not have hurt, the conversation around Ryan Day and whether or not he will stay in Columbus is definitely up in the air, so that would be in Tennessee’s favor. At the same time, though, Ohio State offensive tackle Josh Simmons has already declared for the NFL Draft.
Taking all this into account, it’s safe to say he could land either place. Coming out of North Carolina, though, the Vols should still be the favorites to hold onto him, as they have a pretty solid pipeline that has only been further established in that state recently.
Standing at 6’6″ 290 pounds, the Charlotte prospect is the No. 1 or No. 2 rated player at his position nationally across every service. The product of Providence Day School in Mecklenburg County, N.C., is the first unanimous five-star UT signed since Darnell Wright.
What should also help Tennessee is the fact that five-star quarterback George MacIntyre, who is close with Sanders and has been recruiting him, did indeed sign with the Vols when the early signing period began. Simply put, he should still be in Knoxville next year, but time will tell.
