South Carolina DL T.J. Sanders featured on On3's list of college football's Top 100 players
South Carolina defensive lineman T.J. Sanders was featured this week in On3’s list of the Top 100 Players in College Football for the 2024 season.
The redshirt junior from Marion checks in as the No. 51 overall player in the country and the seventh-best interior defensive lineman, according to the list which also helps drive the On3 College Rating, which is similar to a high school ranking but for college athletes and has Sanders as a four-star.
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Sanders is the lone Gamecock to make this year’s preseason Top 100, which is tabulated by On3’s Clark Brooks.
“If the 2023 class was all about stout offensive tackles, 2024 will be about the return of the big uglies on defense,” said Brooks. “A quarter of the initial Top 100 Impact Players are defensive linemen, with six of the nine five-stars on the interior. In April’s draft, half the first round went by before a defender went off the board. That will not happen next spring with Tennessee’s terrific edge, James Pearce, headlining the crop, and a half-dozen impact four-stars at these spots also have first-round upside.”
Pearce, who made a strong case for top returning player against the Gamecocks last year, checks in as Clark’s top overall player in college football.
Missouri wide receiver Luther Burden, Texas offensive tackle Kelvin Banks, Georgia quarterback Carson Beck, and LSU offensive tackle Will Campbell, all from the SEC, make up the Top 5. The Gamecocks will only face Burden and Campbell from that group this year after seeing Beck and Pearce last season.
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Back to Sanders, he tallied 43 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, and 4 pass breakups in what was sort of breakout season last year.
He earned third-team All-SEC honors from College Football Network, fourth-team all-league honors from Phil Steele, and was co-Defensive Player of the Week against then-No. 1 Georgia.
Sanders, who plays on an interior defensive line that rotates heavily and essentially has co-starters with Tonka Hemingway and Boogie Huntley also seeing starts, has appeared in 25 games over the past three seasons with seven career starts.
