Clemson made a huge impression recently while playing host to one of the nation’s top young offensive line prospects, who hails from the Tar Heel State.
Providence Day School (Charlotte, N.C.) offensive tackle David Sanders Jr. – a 6-foot-6, 250-pound freshman in the 2025 class with double-digit Division I scholarship offers – made his first-ever visit to campus on Saturday, March 12 for the Tigers’ underclassmen day.
“I really enjoyed the whole entire visit. It was very nice,” Sanders told The Clemson Insider recently. “Since it was my first time, I got to see the school part of it and the athletic side of it. So, that was pretty cool. Getting to meet all the coaches, (offensive line) coach (Thomas) Austin and coach (Dabo) Swinney, that was a cool experience as well. And also being able to watch that practice and see how everybody gets after it, that was a cool experience. So, I enjoyed the entire thing, and just being around some of the other top prospects around the country, getting to meet some of those guys and just introducing myself to everybody else and getting to know everybody.”
Meeting Clemson’s head man and taking in the Tigers’ spring practice were among Sanders’ favorite parts of the visit.
“The highlight of the day was probably getting to talk to Coach Swinney for a little bit, and also watching practice,” he said. “I’ve really been watching Coach Swinney a long time, like on TV and everything. So, it was nice to get to talk to him and get to know him a little bit. Also getting out to practice, and we got to watch our specific position groups. So, it wasn’t like we were standing out at practice just watching everybody. I got to go specifically to the offensive line and watch how they do the different drills and just the motor that everybody has on the offensive line to see how I would fit at the school. So, that was pretty cool.”
Sanders sees similarities between his head coach at Providence Day and Swinney, the type of coach that Sanders can envision himself suiting up for down the road.
“My overall impression of him, he’s a very heady guy,” Sanders said of Swinney. “He’s a person of Christ. He talked a lot about God. He was also a very nice guy, upbeat type of coach. He reminds me a lot of my high school coach, Coach (Chad) Grier. So, I can see myself working with him for the next three or four years as I enter college. We kind of talked about just getting up to the campus, getting to know Coach Austin, who is the offensive line coach at Clemson, just building a relationship with him early. Even though they don’t offer early as like 2025s and 2024s, but still being able to build that relationship with him and my position coach, I think that was very important to me and that stuck out a lot – even though they don’t offer early, they still want to build that connection and bond with you as a high school athlete.”
Speaking of Austin, Sanders has been in communication with him since he formally took over as the Tigers’ offensive line coach earlier this year, but the March 12 visit marked their first time meeting in person.
“He asked me how my family was, about what I had aspirations of when I get to college and what I wanted to do just outside of the athletic part of it, and I really liked that about the coaches also at Clemson,” Sanders said. “They want to know more about you and your personal life more than what you can do for them on the field. So, Coach Austin was definitely a good guy. He just got the job in January and he has a long-term contract with Clemson, so I’m looking forward to building that bond with him and getting to know him a lot.”
Sanders took notice of and liked seeing how Austin went about coaching his O-linemen throughout the practice.
“I also looked at the way he treated his players during practice,” Sanders said. “He kept a smile on his face. He didn’t really yell at them; he was more so just teaching. They have a lot of young guys on the team, so it’s really just taking it step-by-step and building them. So, it’ll be nice to see a lot of the freshmen and sophomores they have right now, how he grooms them and builds them to be better men as they become seniors.”
Georgia gave Sanders his latest offer on March 9, joining NC State, Duke, Florida State, Louisville, South Carolina, Michigan, Maryland, West Virginia and East Carolina on his offer list.
Sanders said his recruitment is “still pretty wide open right now, and I’m pretty much keeping my options open just because I’m still a freshman.”
As Sanders alluded to above, the Tigers typically don’t offer a prospect any sooner than the summer before their junior year. But getting an offer from Clemson in the future, he said, “would obviously be a tremendous honor.”
“That would be one of the most memorable moments of my life,” he added. “If I was to get an offer from Clemson, they’d be one of the top schools on my list, for sure. But I also like that even though they’re not offering, they still invited the freshmen and sophomores to the junior day to get that experience and get to know you as a person. So, I feel like once I get that offer, then I’ll already have that connection with the school and with the program to make it easier to make that decision to go to Clemson.”
Sanders also recently visited Duke and plans to check out Georgia and Alabama in the not-too-distant future. He is planning to return to Clemson for the April 9 spring game, and said he expects to camp at schools such as South Carolina, NC State and North Carolina over the summer.
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