Tennessee Vols locked into a massive recruiting battle against a head coach they can't afford to lose to

It appears that the Tennessee Vols are locked into a massive recruiting battle against a head coach that they absolutely can't afford to lose to.

2025 five-star offensive tackle David Sanders Jr, 6-foot-6/290 lbs from Charlotte, NC, is arguably the Vols' top remaining recruiting target. And he's set to announce his commitment on August 17.

Tennessee, Georgia, Ohio State, and Nebraska are Sanders' four finalists.

According to On3's Steve Witlfong , Sanders will take two visits before the end of July -- one to Nebraska and one to Tennessee.

The visit to Nebraska, which has been rumored, is a bit of a surprise. It seems to indicate that Matt Rhule and the Cornhuskers are the Vols' biggest competition for Sanders, instead of Ohio State.

It still feels like Tennessee should be viewed as the favorite for Sanders, but Nebraska's late emergence in this recruiting battle is certainly concerning for the Vols. It's not rare for programs who gain late momentum to win big recruiting battles.

And losing a five-star recruit to Rhule and Nebraska would be an absolute disaster.

Rhule's reputation as a person is fantastic, but his reputation as a coach took quite a hit after his disastrous run with the Carolina Panthers (though to be fair, no one is having success in Charlotte as long as David Tepper owns that franchise).

Regardless of the opinion on Rhule's reputation as a coach, he's still in a rebuild at Nebraska. The Cornhuskers are coming off a 5-7 season in Rhule's first year and there's no proof of concept (yet) that he can sell recruits. Sure, he went 11-3 in his final season at Baylor (in 2019, which was pre transfer portal/NIL). But that doesn't mean he's going to find success at Nebraska -- despite the fact that the national media (looking you Kirk Herbstreit) seems to be mesmerized by Rhule.

Look, Rhule's gotta show it before I believe he can turn Nebraska into a powerhouse. I listened to the national media scream at me (and the rest of us) that Scott Frost was a grand slam hire that would restore Nebraska to glory. And then he went 16-31 and never won more than five games in a season.

Rhule might have a good plan, but we've seen good plans fail before at Nebraska.

Losing Sanders to an "up-and-coming program" that's coming off a five-win season would be a brutal loss for Tennessee. There's no way around it. It simply can't happen if you're Josh Heupel and the Vols.

I still think Tennessee is in a good spot for Sanders. And my gut tells me the Vols win this battle. But man, Heupel and his staff better make sure they lock this one down or there are going to be some disgruntled fans roaming the message boards on Rocky Top.

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