Tennessee under Josh Heupel has yet to turn high school recruits into difference-makers in two areas that, not coincidentally, count as key questions in the Vols’ pursuit of a bid in the first 12-team College Football Playoff — offensive line and secondary.
Time, coaching, development, better evaluation and better luck are a few of the ways those two position groups will improve and be more prominently populated with Vols who were recruited out of high school.Here’s another: Take the recruiting up a notch and go beat the best for the best. Saturday’s verbal commitment from Charlotte, N.C., offensive tackle David Sanders Jr., represents that approach.
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And it continues a recruiting tear for Heupel and his staff as they approach their fourth season on the field. The 6-foot-6, 290-pound Sanders is ranked the No. 1 offensive tackle and No. 2 player overall in the 247Sports Composite in the Class of 2025. He chose the Vols over finalists Georgia, Ohio State and Nebraska.
He’s got Heupel in position to push for a top-five class and continue the Vols’ overall upward trend — a third straight top-15 finish is likely, after ending up No. 17 in 2022, the first class that is fair to judge (the 2021 class was actually a respectable No. 22 despite the staff having to pick through Jeremy Pruitt’s rubble to find their phones).
That’s recruiting to relevance, especially in the 12-team world. And that doesn’t account for the Vols’ recent commitment from 2026 Greensboro, N.C., quarterback Faizon Brandon — No. 1 at the position and No. 1 overall per 247Sports. As a quarterback recruiter, Heupel is unsurpassed right now in college football.
At most positions, he has excelled in terms of high school recruiting, which is just as important as it’s always been despite the transfer portal. Yes, a Florida State can juice up its stock for a season with dynamic transfer adds, but that’s not a sustainable model. Watch the correlations between the top high school recruiting classes and the top teams in the sport continue, and consider some of the prep prospects Heupel has landed.
James Pearce Jr., an expected high first-round 2025 pick, on the edge. Arion Carter at linebacker. Jaylen Wright and Dylan Sampson at running back. Squirrel White and Chas Nimrod at receiver. Tyre West on the defensive line. Ethan Davis, a guy who is destined to make some big plays in this 2024 offense, at tight end.
And, of course, Nico Iamaleava at quarterback. He’s the first non-transfer who will start at the position under Heupel. He got things rolling at the position — true freshman Jake Merklinger and 2025 commit George MacIntyre were significant additions before Heupel got to Brandon. And the hopes couldn’t be higher for the California native.
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Heisman and Playoff runs? Two starring seasons before his own big draft night? Imaginations can run wild right now, and may prove reasonable. But I want to see how that offensive line does, after it probably didn’t get enough blame for last season’s enormous step backward with Joe Milton in place of Hendon Hooker at quarterback.
Sanders is Tennessee’s first five-star offensive line recruit since Pruitt signed Darnell Wright in 2019, and boy, did the Vols miss Wright last season while he toiled in Chicago as a first-round Bears tackle.
I’d like to see a secondary that doesn’t forget how to tackle and track receivers at Florida, that doesn’t melt down at Alabama, that doesn’t pull a collective no-show in a 2022 loss at South Carolina — the one that cost that Tennessee team a spot in the four-team Playoff.
The 2024 offensive line is all holdovers from the previous staff or transfers, and the starters look promising. But how is the depth? That’s where this staff’s ability to evaluate and develop is going to be tested, and that will certainly be the case in 2025.
Defensive back recruiting has gone well per the recruiting services, but the Vols still haven’t produced a standout on the field. Rickey Gibson III could be that guy this season. Maybe Christian Harrison, if he’s the choice to replace Jourdan Thomas at the star (knee, out for season). Boo Carter is a freshman safety with promise.
“Playmaker that’s extremely physical,” Heupel told reporters last week of Carter after UT’s second scrimmage. “Plays extremely hard. I think the biggest area of growth for Boo has just been continued growth of playing within the scope and scheme of the defense — alignment, assignment and his physical traits will take over from there.”
But this year? Next year? Defensive coordinator Tim Banks has leaned decisively toward experience over presumed talent so far in his tenure when it comes to the secondary, and there’s talk that walk-on Will Brooks could have a significant role at safety this season. Nothing against Brooks, who is a great story, but that’s generally not how to build the secondary of a team that can contend for SEC and national championships.
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This UT team will be doing well if it can win one of three among Oklahoma, Alabama and Georgia, take care of business otherwise and be one of the inaugural, chosen dozen. As five-star prospects and top-10 classes accumulate, more should be possible and complete teams should be expected.
Sanders, as a prospect and as a recruiting win, is a sizeable step toward that.
(Photo: Randy Sartin / USA Today)
Joe Rexrode is a senior staff writer for The Athletic covering all things Nashville and some things outside Nashville. He previously worked at The Tennessean, the Detroit Free Press and the Lansing State Journal, spending the past three years as sports columnist at The Tennessean. Follow Joe on Twitter @joerexrode
