Ohio State 'needs to be taken seriously' in race for Five-Star Plus+ OT David Sanders

Ohio State is one of the six contenders in the race for Charlotte Providence Day Five-Star Plus+ offensive tackle David Sanders — the No. 2 overall prospect in the 2025 cycle — but the Buckeyes haven’t been consistently mentioned as a true frontrunner for his pledge.

After a visit to Columbus last weekend, Ohio State recruiting insider Matt Parker thinks that needs to change.

“Let’s start off with David Sanders, who is an absolute top priority target for Ohio State, regardless of position or side of the ball. David Sanders has to be the No. 1 guy that Ohio State is chasing for this 2025 cycle,” Parker said on The Inside Scoop earlier this week. “Talking with some folks after his visit, he left Columbus Sunday, Ohio State needs to be taken seriously in this race.”

It was Sanders’ second time visiting Ohio State. He’s already visited Clemson, Georgia and Alabama this spring and has trips to see Tennessee and South Carolina lined up this month. He’s also locked in official visits to each of the six programs.

The Buckeyes currently have the top-ranked recruiting class in the On3 Industry Team Recruiting Rankings. That same visit weekend that included Sanders has already resulted in four commitments — and it could further lay the ground work to help Ryan Day and his staff land the the 6-foot-5.5, 275-pounder.

“Alabama, Clemson, Tennessee and Georgia, those are schools that are in the mix here — and David Sanders has been loving those schools, but now he’s loving on the Buckeyes,” Parker said. “It’s really time to start taking Ohio State seriously. He got to spend a lot of time with offensive line coach Justin Frye, head coach Ryan Day … but also, he spent a lot of time Saturday during practice with Ohio State OT commit Carter Lowe and then QB commit Tavien St. Clair.”

Buckeyes putting the full-court press on Sanders

Not only were the usual suspects hurling the OSU recruiting pitch at Sanders, but Parker said that the entire Buckeyes staff, commits and more were making the top uncommitted recruit in the nation feel superbly wanted in Columbus.

There’s still plenty of ways to go in the recruitment of Sanders, but Ohio State is making it known that it is more than just a big name among the finalists and that it’s not looking to take the foot off the gas until it lands the trench monster’s pledge.

“There was a big, big effort by Ohio State to put themselves on notice for David Sanders and show Sanders and his family that playing football and getting an education at Ohio State is a real thing,” Parker said. “It should be taken seriously — and now it is. That recruitment is heating up, the Buckeyes are making things interesting in that race.”