Tennessee freshman offensive lineman David Sanders Jr. is finally available for the first time in his college career. After missing the first four games of the season due to an upper-body injury, Sanders has been cleared to play and is off the Vols’ availability report before playing Mississippi State.
However, it’s unclear what his role will be against the Bulldogs. On the depth chart, he’s listed as the starting right tackle. In his absence, guard Jesse Perry has slid out and done a good job of holding it down at tackle, though. Sham Umarov is on the interior in Perry’s place.
Despite the designation as the starting tackle on the depth chart, it may be tough to justify shaking up what has worked so well up front to this point.
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This recent development in his status comes after Josh Heupel was hesitant to give any timeline on what his return could look like. Last Wednesday, he noted that once the staff clears him, he’ll be ready to go, but he just isn’t sure when that is.
“I don’t know. We’ll see. I talked about that on Monday. It’s something where he’s not necessarily in control of it,” Heupel said. “And when I say that, it’s a unique situation. He’s chomping at the bit. He’s been a great teammate through the adversity. It’s another thing that, in particular, our young guys have to learn or navigate. At some point in this game, everyone gets nicked up. He’s done a great job of mentally staying engaged. As soon as our medical staff clears him, he’ll be ready to go play.”
On the previous Monday, heading into the UAB game, Heupel went into detail about the strange circumstances around Sanders’ injury. He said he was ‘day-to-day’ and that the injury was ‘unique’.
“A unique injury that doctors are uncertain (on),” Heupel said. “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 matchup with Mississippi State is scheduled to begin at 4:15 p.m. ET and will air on the SEC Network.
