Tennessee offensive tackle David Sanders remains “questionable” for the Vols’ SEC road opener against Mississippi State according to the SEC Availability Report.
Sanders has been questionable for nearly every injury report this season as he continues to work his way back from the “unique” injury that he suffered in practice the week of Tennessee’s season opener against Syracuse.
“A unique injury that doctors are uncertain (on),” Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel said last week. “That’s kind of why he’s been day-to-day for a while here. Uncertain, it’s not like a sprained ankle. And I say that meaning there’s not a definitive timeline, so he’s been having to fight through that. Guy wants to be out there. It hurts him badly. Our football team, guys in his position room can see that but he’s been a good teammate too.”
The “unique” aspect of the injury means that he could return this week against Mississippi State or it could be multiple weeks until he makes his college debut.
“He’s been day-to-day. He’s not in control of it,” Heupel said. “Our medical staff is doing everything they can. It’s a little bit of an unknown timeframe. Could wake up tomorrow ready to go. He’s had, some times, some healing and we hope that happens before we get to Saturday.”
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Tennessee lists Sanders as its starter at right tackle on the depth chart, but he hasn’t been able to play a snap to this point. With Sanders sidelined, Tennessee has opted to go to the same starting offensive line without him. This has featured Jesse Perry at right tackle, Wendell Moe Jr. at right guard, Sam Pendleton at center, Shamurad Umarov at left guard and Lance Heard at left tackle.
Perry, a redshirt freshman who was poised to start at right guard, has performed very well in Sanders’ absence. The Murfreesboro native has been one of the SEC’s best offensive linemen to this point in the season and earned the best pass block grade of any Tennessee offensive lineman against Georgia.
Still, adding Sanders to the fold would be a major boost to Tennessee’s offensive line room and the injury has been tough mentally for the talented freshman.
Sanders was the top ranked player in Tennessee football’s 2025 recruiting class, ranking as a five-star recruit and the No. 6 player in the country according to the 247sports composite rankings.
Kickoff between Tennessee and Mississippi State is at 4:15 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon. Dave Neal, Fozzy Whittaker and Morgan Uber are on the call for the SEC Network.
