One of the headliners among the recruits in attendance for Clemson’s top-10 showdown against NC State on Oct. 1 was a five-star offensive lineman ranked by multiple recruiting services as the nation’s No. 1 overall prospect in the 2025 class.

David Sanders Jr. of Providence Day School (Charlotte, N.C.) recently went in-depth with The Clemson Insider about his experience on campus for the Tigers’ 30-20 victory over the Wolfpack at Death Valley.

It wasn’t his first time at Clemson, as he visited twice in the spring, though it was his first gameday visit there.

“The Clemson game, that was definitely a big game for me. I enjoyed myself a lot,” Sanders said. “The atmosphere with them playing NC State – it was a top-10 matchup – was really cool. That was a really cool experience. I got to experience the new LED lights in the stadium and the new scoreboard. Those two additions to the stadium really made the experience more fun.

“But overall, I had a great time. When I got to the stadium, I was able to meet all the coaches and all the players, too. … Then also they let us go to the top of the hill for the pregame for them to run down the hill. That was definitely the coolest experience ever, just to experience how steep that hill really is, because I always hear it’s steeper than it looks. … So, I enjoyed that a lot, and just the experience overall – the atmosphere, the fans, the facility – it was really cool. So, I enjoyed the whole thing.”

Sanders made the trip to Tiger Town with his parents.

“They enjoyed it a lot,” he said. “That was their third time going up to Clemson. So, we enjoyed it, and just that family atmosphere – I come from a family atmosphere, and then at Providence Day, it’s all family. So, when we go to Clemson, they treat us like that, and we enjoy that.”

Sanders, a 6-foot-7, 250-pound sophomore, cited the atmosphere and coaching staff as what stood out the most to him from the visit.

“They’re always down to earth, and every single coach came up to me and talked to me at least for a couple minutes,” he said. “So, they made me feel like a priority while I was up there, and that definitely made me feel good. But the main thing for me was just the atmosphere.”

The Tigers typically don’t offer prospects until the summer before their junior year, so according to Sanders, the coaches told him to stay patient and “trust the process” with them.

“They take their time in offering a lot of people, so their message to me was basically just wait your time and your time is really coming,” he said. “Just do what you’ve got to do in the classroom and on the field and just keep being who I am, and hopefully my time will be coming for Clemson University.”

Added Sanders: “But just getting to talk to them and just knowing how much they want me, even though they don’t offer sophomores… but they’re keeping me in the loop with the program and with the players, and every time I go up there, they just make me feel like I’m family. So, that’s always a plus for them.”

Sanders said he has also been to South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee and East Carolina recently. He’s looking to check out NC State and Georgia before season’s end but doesn’t have any visits scheduled as of now.

He intends to return to Clemson this offseason, and perhaps even again this season, in order to further his relationship with head coach Dabo Swinney and particularly offensive line coach Thomas Austin.

“I’ll try to make it up for another game if possible,” he said. “But I’ll definitely be up there a lot during the offseason for like junior day and just unofficial visits to spend more time around the program and the coaches, just to sit down and talk to them and pick their brain a little bit, see what they’re thinking.

“But I want to be around the program as much as possible so I can build that relationship with not only Coach Swinney, but Coach Austin because that’s probably who I’ll be spending my most time with, knowing that’s the offensive line coach. So, I just want to get to know him as much as possible and for us to build that relationship.”

Schools such as Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, NC State, North Carolina, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Penn State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest have offered Sanders, who is certainly high on the Tigers early in the process.

“I’ve always had a high respect for Clemson, just what they stand for as a program,” he said. “They’ve never changed for anybody, no matter if you’re a four-star or a three-star or no-star. They treat all their players that they’re recruiting the exact same, and that’s one thing I’ve always respected about them.

“So, Clemson’s definitely one of my favorite schools out there, and just getting to be around the program and know all the coaches well, that’s going to mean a lot to me. But Clemson’s definitely one of my favorite schools, for sure.”

Sanders, who is rated as a five-star prospect by the 247Sports Composite, is ranked as the No. 1 overall prospect in the country for the 2025 class by the 247Sports Composite, 247Sports and Rivals.

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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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