Another Sanders is ruling the college football landscape right at the moment. It’s the Tennessee Volunteers’ 5-star commit David Sanders Jr. The young chap is yet to sign with Josh Heupel’s squad. But reports said that he had a packed-up schedule filled with visits. One of them was to Columbus to meet Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes. This had already left Heupel to go in complete panic mode. But looks like David Sanders Jr. for the time being has hit the pause button when it comes to his visits.

The Vols were able to woo David Sanders Jr. when he committed to Heupel’s squad back in August. But again no feeling is final when it comes to college football players. The 5-star commit has his signing day on December 4. A few days back ESPN broke the news about David Sanders Jr. leaning toward Day’s squad, “Sources tell me that 5⭐️ OL David Sanders Jr. will flip from Tennesse to Ohio State. Announcement coming soon 🚨.” But looks like the Charlotte native and the No.1 offensive lineman in the nation had changed his mind last minute. And from there, a sense of thrill started to build up in the Tennessee hood. As Steve Wiltfong on the On3 Recruits podcast recalled, “He could find himself back in Columbus for a second week in a row Tennessee fans have been worried all week.”

But looks like Heupel has not much to worry about when it’s David Sanders Jr. as the Volunteers are now said “to be back in the driver’s seat.” That’s because the athlete called off his visit to Ohio State which was supposed to be this weekend. As the analyst confirmed, Matt Rhule’s Nebraska Cornhuskers are already outside of the race to land David Sanders Jr. So right at the moment, it’s a Tennessee vs Ohio State fight.

“The fact that David Sanders decided to stay home, it doesn’t mean that he’s not flipping to Ohio State but had he made that visit to Columbus you could all but pencil him into that Buckeye class but right now it sounds like Tennessee solidified things,” Wiltfong had some good news for the Tennessee fam. Looks like Day is responsible for turning things in Heupel’s favor. 

Ohio State takes a backseat in the David Sanders Jr. recruiting race

As Witfong earlier stated Ohio State was the runner-up as they were just behind Tennessee in the recruiting race. But they couldn’t beat the Vols since they had been recruiting him since he was in the eighth grade. It’s obvious that even if David Sanders Jr. shows even little interest for the Buckeyes it’s because of their HC Day. 

After all, who wouldn’t want to be in Day’s program as he was the main man behind helping Ohio State to consistently become the top-five program year after year? By far, the HC has never finished a season with more than two losses. And look at him now! Right now, it looks like the program is in a dilemma, the only question being to keep or not to keep Day.

With four back-to-back losses to Michigan, the ‘FIRE RYAN DAY’ campaign has gained momentum. As Columbus Dispatch analyst Austin Cutright wrote, “Day would be owed $37.28 million by Ohio State if he were to be fired by as of Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, according to USA TODAY’s college football head coaches salaries database.” For the analyst, it’s “manageable” for the Buckeyes. So, now the ball lies in Ohio State’s court whether they would continue with their HC with the 86.8% win and snatch David Sanders Jr. away from Tennessee or risk losing them both!