Five-star freshman tackle David Sanders didn’t get to make his college debut after all on Saturday afternoon in Atlanta. Sanders was a late scratch from the starting lineup on Saturday morning after suffering an apparent injury in practice during the week.
Tennessee played musical chairs up front, kicking Jesse Perry out to start at right tackle in his place. Sham Umarov took Perry’s guard spot. The result? 248 rushing yards and 247 passing yards as Tennessee salted away their first win of the 2025
season.
Sanders will now work to get healthy and get his feet wet next weekend against ETSU.
“Just late in practice on Wednesday kind of got nicked up,” Josh Heupel said of the injury to Sanders. “Anticipated him being able to play. This morning, our medical staff just felt like it probably wasn’t the right thing to do. We are always going to be mindful of our guys and their health. If they get cleared they’re ready to roll and we’ll go play with them.”
Sanders was a top five overall prospect in last year’s high school recruiting class. He stepped in early back in the spring and quickly put a stranglehold on a starting spot, forcing veteran tackle Larry Johnson to the transfer portal.
“It was hard for David when he got that news,” Heupel said. “He anticipated being ready to play. There’s a lot of work he’s put into it. I thought he handled it extremely well. Great teammate today and I anticipate him being back as we get going next week.”
Sanders’ first truly competitive test will now come in two weeks when Georgia comes to town.
As we’ve seen time and time again, building up that offensive line depth is a key to success. That top six, seven or even eight will eventually be forced into action, just as we saw on Saturday. As for the new-look offensive line as a whole? So far, so good.
