The recruiting world has felt the wrath of the Tennessee Volunteers lately. Since June 1, they have received 13 verbal commitments for the Class of 2025 alone. There has been a rush of elite talent announcing their decision: They are coming to Knoxville to play for the Tennessee Volunteers.
Perhaps no signing in this class was more monumental than the announcement of five-star tackle David Sanders Jr., who announced last week that he would take his talents to Neyland Stadium and join the Vols.
Most in the recruiting industry expected Sanders to end up at Tennessee, as the Vols held the momentum most of the time in recruiting Sanders. However, some people may be asking “how?” How did Tennessee land this five-star talent despite Ohio State and Georgia? Some unscrupulous fans today might blame NIL. However, Ohio State insider Jermey Birmingham says the exact opposite about why the Buckeyes lost Sanders.
Birmingham was a guest on THE Podcast and made the following statement about Ohio State’s opinion on Sanders.
“Ohio State was willing to do that (make a big NIL offer) in this case. They were willing, as far as I know, to pay David Sanders more money than the rest of the offensive line is currently making. Or almost. That wasn’t a money issue. That was a closer to home issue.”
This wasn’t a question of money, but of proximity. This is Ohio State, but how did Tennessee manage to beat Georgia, a program that has produced some of the most promising offensive tackles in the NFL Draft over the past five years. Well, it couldn’t have been proximity, because both Knoxville and Athens are relatively equidistant from Charlotte, North Carolina. Simply put… Tennessee just beat them.
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