The Clemson Insider recently caught up with the country’s top-ranked prospect in the 2025 class, regardless of position.

David Sanders – a five-star rising junior offensive tackle from Providence Day School (Charlotte, N.C.) who is firmly on Clemson’s recruiting radar – discussed the Tigers, as well as his recruitment and season, in an interview with TCI.

Sanders, who is ranked as the nation’s No. 1 overall player in his class by multiple recruiting services, plays both ways for Providence Day at offensive tackle and defensive end. Starting on both sides of the ball as a sophomore in 2022, he posted 27 pancake blocks and allowed only one sack while notching six sacks himself to go with 12 quarterback pressures. The 6-foot-7, 255-pounder even had an interception during his impressive campaign.

“Our season went very well,” Sanders said. “We went 13-1 this year and we ended up winning the state championship. We had a lot of success throughout the year. I felt like we got better each and every week, which I was very proud of, of the team. After the season, I got a lot of individual accolades based on how I did in the season.”

First-team all-conference and all-state are among the accolades collected by Sanders, who lists two dozen scholarship offers already. He updated how things are going for him in the recruiting process as well.

“Everything with the recruiting process is going pretty well,” he said. “I think a lot of schools are starting to become more interested in me since I’m going into my junior year… I definitely want to go visit any schools that I can during the offseason, just so I can start narrowing down my choices to make a decision.”

Clemson is one school that Sanders is looking to get back to soon, so he can continue to build upon his relationships with head coach Dabo Swinney and offensive line coach Thomas Austin.

“Definitely since junior days are going to come up in the new year, like January, February, March, somewhere around there,” Sanders said of when he might make it to Clemson again. “I definitely want to come back for the junior day and spend more time with Coach Swinney, Coach Austin. But yes, definitely want to make another trip down there, most likely for the junior day.”

Providence Day School (Charlotte, N.C.) 2025 OL David Sanders Jr. during pregame of the Tigers’ spring game Saturday, April 9, 2022 at Clemson’s Memorial Stadium. Bart Boatwright/The Clemson Insider

Sanders traveled to Clemson a couple of times last spring and then returned to Tiger Town for the NC State game this past October.

“I love going to Clemson all times,” he said. “It’s a very good school, and I just love being around the program and the coaches.”

According to Sanders, Austin and Clemson offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter paid a visit to his school recently.

“Before the dead period, a couple of the Clemson coaches, Coach Streeter and Coach Austin, were able to make a trip down to Providence Day to come visit a couple of the players at PD,” he said. “Coach Austin was actually in the weight room a week ago or so to watch me lift, which was pretty cool just to have that experience with him.”

Clemson hasn’t turned the page to offering 2025 prospects yet, as the Tigers typically don’t offer recruits until the summer before their junior year, but Sanders is certainly a strong candidate to receive an offer from Dabo Swinney’s program down the road.

“If I were able to get a Clemson offer, that would mean the world to me of course, just based off the history of the Clemson program,” he said. “They’ve always been known as one of the top schools in the nation, and it would be an honor to receive an offer from them. I think that would help my recruiting process and change it up just a little bit. So, I would love to have an offer from Clemson.”

Sanders’ impressive offer list currently includes schools such as Alabama, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, NC State, North Carolina, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Penn State, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas A&M among others.

As of now, he says all the schools in his recruitment are on “an even playing field” as far as where they stand with him at this early stage of the process.

“I’ve only been able to visit a select handful of schools,” he explained. “Just because of me being in school and during the football season, haven’t really been able to visit a lot of schools yet. But during the offseason, I’ll definitely be able to see where I like the most and probably don’t like the most. So, right now I’d say everybody’s around even, just because they can’t reach out to me because I’m a class of 2025. But I’m just taking the opportunity to enjoy my process and thank every coach that’s recruiting me right now and just get to know everybody.”

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