Spring practice rolls on for Tennessee, with day three underway as Josh Heupel gets the Vols ready for 2026. Tennessee has a lot to work on in a little amount of time, so making every rep count is key this spring. All eyes are on the quarterbacks, but Tennessee has a young, potentially star-studded offensive line to protect the signal-callers.
Tennessee offense could pivot on QB George MacIntyre after offseason muscle gain
With that said, Tennessee tackle David Sanders Jr. put on a show at spring practice today, absolutely mauling Charles House III in one of the craziest reps of the day. The pure upper body strength from the 6-foot-6, 305-pound linemen is wild. There is the saying low man wins, but not this time. Sanders' pure strength and tenacity absolutely pancaked the House on this rep.
Good morning from David Sanders Jr. 😳 pic.twitter.com/EHHfOHeNVn
— Patrick Brown (@pbrown247) March 19, 2026
It’s an encouraging sign for the Vols moving forward. With a freshman quarterback likely under center, the sophomore tackle will play a major role this fall, because keeping pressure off the young QB could make all the difference. Not to mention, the Vols will likely feed Second Team All-SEC running back DeSean Bishop plenty this fall.
Sanders graded well
Overall, Sanders had a 65.8 PFF grade with a 67.8 pass-blocking grade and a 64.5 run-blocking grade in 2025. Not bad at all, but he needs to build on this and go from not bad to really good next fall.
It's hard to ignore the fact that it's not often you see first-year tackles starting in the SEC, and Sanders held his own in the best conference in America. In 218 pass-blocking plays, he allowed only two sacks last fall. With Sanders likely to play many more snaps this year, he will need to keep the consistency up.
Digging deeper, just looking at the stats above, I doubt you'll find many young tackles with numbers like that in the SEC, and I'd bet many of them were very high NFL draft picks. Being physically and mentally ready for that kind of role just shows how much potential Sanders has.
For Tennessee, the significance is obvious, as the games are won and lost in the trenches. With Sanders on my side, I really like the odds.