Ohio State insider makes big claim about Buckeyes' NIL offer to 5-star OL David Sanders Jr who recently committed to Vols

The Tennessee Vols made a massive recruiting splash this past weekend by landing a commitment from 2025 five-star offensive lineman David Sanders Jr, the No. 1 offensive tackle in the nation.

Tennessee beat out Nebraska, Ohio State, and Georgia in the battle for Sanders.

Of that group, Ohio State was likely the biggest threat to Tennessee. The Buckeyes routinely put top talent in the NFL and they're almost always in the College Football Playoff mix. I don't think anyone could've faulted Sanders for choosing the Buckeyes.

Sanders, however, chose Tennessee in large part because of the family atmosphere that Josh Heupel has cultivated in Knoxville. The fact that Tennessee is just a few hours away from Sanders' hometown of Charlotte, NC probably helped as well.

NIL, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, wasn't a driving factor in Sanders' decision.

While Sanders will likely earn plenty of NIL cash at Tennessee, this isn't a situation where the Vols were the highest bidder.

In fact, Ohio State insider Jeremy Birmingham suggested on THE Podcast this week that the Buckeyes were willing to give Sanders an NIL deal worth more than what the rest of the offensive line in Columbus is currently earning.

"Ohio State was willing do that (make a big NIL offer) in this instance," said Birmingham. "They were willing to pay David Sanders, from my understanding, more money than the rest of the offensive line currently makes. Or close to it. This was not a money issue. This was a closer to home issue."

The battle for Sanders is one that could've gone either way (between Tennessee and Ohio State). But because of Sanders' relationship with the coaches at Tennessee, plus his relationship with current Vols players/commits, it went UT's way. It doesn't mean that Ohio State did anything wrong, it just wasn't the place that Sanders viewed as the right fit.

If anything, it's refreshing that Sanders' decision didn't come down to the biggest offer (and we don't know for sure if Ohio State did or didn't have the biggest offer).

By the way, this isn't the first time under Heupel that Tennessee has landed a five-star recruit that had a competitive NIL offer from an elite program.

During the 2024 recruiting cycle, the Vols landed five-star wide receiver Mike Matthews over Georgia despite the fact that the Bulldogs reportedly made a really competitive NIL offer to the the talented recruit (Matthews was rated as the No. 4 overall player in the state of Georgia).

Tennessee has something special brewing right now. But to keep it going, they'll need to continue to get positive results on Saturdays in the fall.

Related: Former Vols DB Brandon Turnage explains why he transferred to Ole Miss and makes strong statement about his time at Tennessee