No. 1 OT David Sanders releases merchandise ahead of commitment
Ahead of his commitment on Saturday, top 2025 prospect David Sanders is making his first foray into NIL.
The nation’s No. 1 offensive tackle and Five-Star Plus+ recruit released merchandise, featuring hats, T-shirts and hoodies. The Charlotte (North Carolina) Providence Day School offensive tackle is set to announce his college plans at 12:30 p.m. ET Saturday during a ceremony at this school.
Represented by WME Sports, the launch of the apparel line doesn’t come as a coincidence. The collection also includes graphic T-shirts featuring Sanders and a jersey T-shirt, just in time for fans to wear the apparel at his announcement. As a private school athlete in North Carolina, the offensive tackle can monetize his name, image and likeness.
The 6-foot-6, 276-pound offensive tackle is down to Georgia, Nebraska, Ohio State and Tennessee. The Volunteers are the current leader on the On3 Recruiting Predicition Machine (RPM).
According to On3’s Steve Wiltfong, Ohio State appeared to be the top challenger this spring and summer to Tennessee. But the Vols have hosted Sanders in Knoxville five times this calendar year.
Tennessee currently has On3’s No. 9 ranked recruiting class in the nation, headlined by quarterback George MacIntyre. MacIntyre has been pivotal from a peer recruiting aspect in courting Sanders who enjoys being around the Vols commits and players, according to Wiltfong.
“Sanders’ relationship with Tennessee’s current commits is the best of his finalists,” Wiltfong wrote in explaining his RPM pick for Sanders to land at Tennessee. “The time spent around the coaching staff, he feels he can be developed by position coach Glen Elarbee similar to that of Darnell Wright.”
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David Sanders’ major On3 NIL Valuation
The nation’s No. 1 offensive tackle according to the On3 Industry Ranking, David Sanders holds an On3 NIL Valuation of $972,000. The No. 3 valuation high school football is also No. 23 in the On3 NIL 100, the first of its kind and defacto NIL ranking of the top 100 high school and college athletes ranked by their On3 NIL Valuation.
With nearly 20,000 social media followers before he reaches college, Sanders’ NIL potential is only growing.
“Despite what some fans and media believe, there is not an unlimited amount of money being deployed to manage rosters,” said Shannon Terry, the founder and CEO of On3. “Any model – whether it’s today’s broken NCAA ‘student-athlete’ construct or media rights sharing through employment, which is almost a certainty in the near future – demands efficiency based on the athlete and school knowing the athlete’s respective market value.”
The On3 NIL Valuation is calculated by combining Roster Value and personal NIL. Roster value is the value an athlete has by being a member of his or her team at his or her school, which factors into the role of NIL collectives. NIL in an athlete’s name, image and likeness and the value it could bring to regional and national brands outside of the scope of NIL collectives.