Five-Star Plus+ OT David Sanders Jr. sets commitment date

Charlotte (N.C.) Providence Day School Five-Star Plus+ offensive tackle David Sanders Jr. is down to four schools and will announce his college decision on August 17, per On3’s Hayes Fawcett.

Sanders will choose between Georgia, Nebraska, Ohio State and Tennessee.

Sanders is the nation’s top offensive tackle and No. 2 overall prospect in the 2025 cycle according to the On3 Industry Ranking — a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Sanders broke down three of his finalists at May’s On3 Elite Series in Nashville.

Georgia: “Georgia is Georgia. You want to go there, go to the NFL, that’s the place to go. Coach Smart has done a great job, me and Coach (Stacy) Searels have a great relationship, he’s been recruiting me since he was at UNC so me and him go way back. I think they’re doing a great job with the guys that they brought in in that 2024 class … Mason Short‘s coming in to Georgia and that’s one of my really good friends in this whole entire recruitment process. So Georgia’s done a great job, they were one of my early offers, my 10th offer as a freshman, so they’ve been on me really early, so Georgia’s always been at the top of the list.”

Tennessee: “I just love Tennessee’s coaching staff. Coach (Josh) Heupel and Coach (Glen) Elarbee, they do a great job with that personal connection. I think out of anybody, they do the best job calling, texting, just staying in contact with my parents and building that relationship. I just feel like you can be yourself at Tennessee, there’s nothing you have to do differently, even though it’s a big SEC school that wins a lot of games and is in contention for winning national championships year in and year out, that’s a place you can go and freely be yourself. I feel like you can go there, develop and be the first big-time offensive tackle to come out of Tennessee. They have everything you need to do to be successful there.”

Ohio State: “I would say they were always in the mix for sure, because I liked Ohio State. Obviously they’re known for making great offensive tackles … seeing that as a young kid, like I can go there and do the same thing. Ohio State got the bump early because I had only been there one time until recently. Ohio State is different, but they’ve done a phenomenal job, coming up there for the spring a couple of times and being around that program … I just think Coach (Justin) Frye is an amazing offensive line coach, he’s shown that he can develop guys and push them to the next level. He’s very passionate in everything that he’s doing … I feel like his coaching style and my playing style can mesh really good.”

Nebraska was not included in Sanders’ top six schools at the time, but he broke down his visit to Lincoln with HuskerOnline.

“Dylan (Raiola),” Sanders said when asked what Nebraska did to get on his radar. “When they pulled the No. 1 player out of the 2024 class, they can get the No. 1 offensive tackle from the 2025 class to protect him. If you have a high-caliber quarterback like that, you need somebody that’s going to protect him. I feel like he’s done a great job, even when he was committed at Georgia. That’s one of the main reasons I took that visit because he did such a good job building that relationship with me and letting me know ‘I need you to come block for me.’ His tune never changed when he committed to Nebraska.

“He was like, ‘Bro, I’m just at a different school. I’m still the same person.’ If he says all these great things about the University of Nebraska, I think it’s definitely worth a visit.”