Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel was complimentary of offensive tackle David Sanders Jr. after UT’s first fall camp scrimmage on Saturday.
The true freshman came to Tennessee as a highly-touted recruit and has an opportunity to see meaningful, impactful playing time in his first season with the Vols. He’s been working at the right tackle spot with the first team offense throughout training camp, and looks poised to officially earn that spot when the season-opening week rolls around.
Despite his youth, Sanders has the maturity that it takes to play that position early on. Tennessee hasn’t often relied on true freshman players on offense, but the need to replace four starters combined with Sanders’ talent and awareness make him the leading candidate for the tackle position on the opposite side of left tackle Lance Heard.
“I thought David has done a really good job, eight practices in throughout training camp,” Heupel said on Saturday morning. “I thought today, he handled himself extremely well. Really good player in spring ball. Continue to grow mentally and physically and then the fundamentals and technique, too. So here through the early part of training camp, he’s done a really good job for a young football player. Expecting him to play at a really high level.”
Sanders has been working hard to earn his opportunity this year. He put together a nice spring camp and has been praised for his improvement so far this fall. One of the biggest and most important things he has done is put on 40 pounds since arriving in Knoxville, currently sitting just shy of 310 pounds. But it’s also the mental aspect that shows his preparedness and readiness for the season.
“Yeah, I think one, just his body. The guy has done an incredible job of putting on weight and getting to a place where he can function here in the SEC,” Tennessee OL coach Glen Elarbee said of Sanders during camp. “Two, mentally, he spent as much time or more time than anybody reading, walking through, understanding there’s still way, way more to keep going. But where he was to where he is now, unreal. And credit to him.”
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ESPN recently named Sanders as one of the freshmen to watch in college football this upcoming season.
“Rarely does Tennessee turn a starting offensive line spot over to a freshman, but Sanders has all the developmental markers of an impactful tackle right out of the gate in Rocky Top,” ESPN writes.” … Tennessee coaches challenged Sanders to put on weight after he enrolled early and he answered the call. The freshman now checks in at 6-6, 305 pounds with an exceptional combination of athleticism, lower body flexibility and reaction skills. Sanders will have every opportunity to win the starting right tackle spot on a Volunteers line that needs to replace four starters from last year as they retool in search of a national championship.”
Josh Heupel’s praise for Sanders is encouraging to see. It’s not all that surprising, given what we’ve heard and seen from fall camp this year, but it’s encouraging nonetheless. He was brought in to be an impact player, after all. Yes, he might be young, but the ceiling is unbelievably high. Even with growing pains that are sure to pop up throughout his first year in college football, Sanders’ ability and talent project him to be a key piece on the Vols’ re-tooled offensive line – and someone they’ll need to help protect the eventual winner of the ongoing quarterback battle. He appears poised to win the starting right tackle job, but we’ll have to wait and see when the official depth chart comes out to kick off game week later this month.
