This is the season for recruitment twists! You would raise your eyebrows when a hard commit makes a move in the recruiting season. As a Tennessee fan, David Sanders Jr.’s inclination to a Big Ten school almost feels like a betrayal. After all, he’s been a longtime Tennessee Volvs commit since August. “He’s only visited Tennessee, only talked to Tennessee.” Are they breaking up? Is Ryan Day stealing Josh Heupel’s prized possession?

As always, Steve Wiltfong offered some intriguing updates on 5-star OT David Sanders Jr.’s recruitment. On November 24th, he shared on On3 Recruits that “He [David Sanders Jr.] is on campus at Ohio State this weekend. He could stay into Monday so there is going to be a lot of dialogue and a lot of opportunity for Ohio State to make a move on Tennessee.”

If you think that’s bad, here’s worse. Wiltfong added, “Talking to a source early this morning, they thought that this was even starting to trend to Ohio State’s way.” With early signing day on December 4, nothing is stable among top recruits. Anything could happen in the flip season, and that chance is very real for the nation’s No. 1 OT. 

David Sanders Jr.’s visit to one of the most anticipated Week 13 games spells real trouble for Tennessee. No. 2 Ohio State was very much in the mix before he chose the Volunteers over the Buckeyes and Nebraska Cornhuskers. Ryan Day was reportedly the first person to walk up to him on his visit. The Buckeyes delivered a worthy game by crushing No. 5 Indiana 38-15 as their path to the Big Ten Championship game gets clearer. It’s clear that he was impressed during the visit. Would that be enough to end his relationship with Tennessee?

Tennessee and Ohio State’s stand in the 2025 recruiting class

Tennessee didn’t really face any scare in their 2025 recruitment class up until now. A flip would be a severe blow to the Vols’ 2025 recruitment class, which currently ranks 9th in the nation with David Sanders Jr. being their lone 5-star commit. He joins 13 4-star commits and 10 3-star commits. However, Ryan Day’s 2025 class is fairly more polished. 

Ohio State ranks No. 3 in the nation with 25 commits in the 2025 cycle. They also rank first in the B1G with three 5-star commits, 17 4-star commits, and five 3-star players. A formidable future lineup! And more blue-chip additions could be on the way as far as the development with David Sanders Jr. goes.