When David Sanders Jr. didn’t sign with the University of Tennessee on Wednesday’s first day of the three-day early signing period, speculation began that he may flip his commitment. But on Thursday, he ended all the doubts from Tennessee fans during a guest appearance on The Paul Finebaum Show.
Sanders, the No. 5 ranked prospect and the No. 1 ranked offensive lineman in the Class of 2025 via ESPN’s Top 300 recruiting ranking, had verbally committed to Tennessee back in August.
However, when Sanders visited Ohio State just two weeks before the early signing day for their win over Indiana, some thought that he might be the biggest surprise of the recruiting cycle thus far by flipping to Ohio State.
It turns out that Sanders just wanted to wait to announce his decision on Paul Finebaum’s platform on the SEC Network.
On Thursday’s edition of The Paul Finebaum Show, Finebaum mentioned all of the speculation about what Sanders would ultimately do.
“Of course, yesterday [was] National Signing Day,” said Finebaum. “And I think by now, you may be getting an idea of what’s going on here. We have David Sanders Jr. in here. Only the No. 1 offensive lineman in the country — one of the very top players in the country. And all kinds of rumors, David, all kinds of speculation. First of all, congratulations for playing on a great football team. You were in the studio a couple of years ago with your teammates — and they’ve gone everywhere.
“Now, a lot of people are waiting on you to make up your mind.”
Sanders thanked Finebaum for allowing him to use his platform for his announcement before sharing that he would indeed be signing with the University of Tennessee.
“First of all, I just want to thank you for allowing me to come on your show and have this opportunity to make this announcement. Obviously, signing day was yesterday, but we waited for today. So, just wanted to let everybody know that for the next three to four years, I will be attending the University of Tennessee,” said Sanders.
“There it is; that has been the speculation,” replied Finebaum. “Although, when the signing didn’t happen yesterday, I don’t think I need to tell you, there were a lot of hearts fluttering across the country. The recruiting wires were rampant.”
The best OL in the entire country @DavidLSandersJr is heading to Rocky Top. @Vol_Football pic.twitter.com/RGxc7NKgox
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) December 5, 2024
Sanders then explained his decision, saying that Tennessee had been constantly showing interest since he was a freshman in high school.
“Tennessee has been in it from the very beginning,” said Sanders. “They offered me as a freshman in high school — and they’ve been kinda on me every year since then. Just expressing to me that I was a priority in the class and a must-get for the Class of 2025. Coach [Josh]Heupel has expressed to me many times that I’m the leader of this class.
“He wants me to come in and really lead them along with our quarterback and the other recruits we have, as well. Tennessee did a great job recruiting me. The recruiting class they have coming in, I feel like we have a great mix of guys. A great quarterback, a great receiver, a good defensive core coming in, and other offensive linemen as well. So, I’m super excited about that.”
As Sanders alluded to, Tennessee does have a number of other impact signings in its 2025 recruiting class, including No. 38-ranked Isaiah Campbell, No. 103-ranked George MacIntyre, and No. 138-ranked Christian Gass.
But undoubtedly, Sanders is the gem of this class for Tennessee on paper.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.