Tennessee football is in the running for the top-ranked offensive lineman in the class of 2025.
Five-star tackle David Sanders Jr. out of Charlotte listed the Vols in his Top Six schools on Saturday along with Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State and South Carolina.
Sanders spoke with Adam Friedman of Rivals.com to detail his thoughts at this point in his recruitment.
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Tennessee has been steadily in the mix for Sanders throughout his recruitment. Both head coach Josh Heupel and offensive line coach Glen Elarbee have been vocal in their desire to bring the highly touted lineman to Knoxville.
The turnaround Heupel has engineered and the bright future of quarterback play haven't gone unnoticed, either.
“I just loved everything they've been doing with their program within the last few years," Sanders told Friedman. "It's been an amazing development, especially coach Earbee and coach Heupel coming in and really changing that program from what it was to how we see it now.
"They have an amazing future ahead of them, I believe, with Nico (Iamaleava) at quarterback and then they have George (MacIntyre) coming in that 2025 class. I just think the future is very, very bright for the University of Tennessee. They've done an amazing job getting to know me as a person, getting to know me as a player, and getting to know my family as well. Their overall way of recruiting has been amazing and I just love everybody inside the program as far as offensive line coach, receiver coaches, the general managers and everybody. It has been amazing.”
Sanders also revealed to Friedman that the Vols are the team he is 'most excited about' coming out of the January contact period.
"I would say that's about correct," Sanders told Friedman. "The amount of effort they put in recruiting me within this last year, I would say they've been recruiting me the best out of anybody. That 'need versus want' factor plays a huge role. They have plenty of off-the-field opportunities that you can get involved in."
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This all stems from the relationship he has with the coaches. He has been able to take in how the staff coaches and develops players at his position.
"I love coach Elarbee and the way he coaches," he said. "He coaches the guys hard. The current offensive linemen that are there now, we have good relationships with them. I talk to them on a regular basis. It's even beyond football. They're just talking to me and seeing how the recruiting process is going and things like that. It's just been a blessing being able to build those relationships with the University of Tennessee and I think that's something they've been really running with, those relationships and just how grateful they are to have me and my family in their life."
For now, Sanders has not yet finalized his list of upcoming visits. As he and his mom iron out the plans, he says he should have it figured out in the coming weeks.
As far as a commitment is concerned, the current plan is to make an announcement in August or September.
"After those officials, we'll really sit down with the family throughout July and take a break from the recruiting process, take a break from interviews and talking to people," Sanders told Friedman. "I feel like all the information that we're going to have needed to make that decision will be given to us between the spring and official visits so that'll be the most important time for me. I definitely don't want to take it too deep into my senior year because I just want to enjoy being with the guys. I'll be graduating early so I just want to enjoy the last couple of months as a high school athlete.”
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