At this time last week, there was plenty of concern among the Tennessee football fanbase when it was announced that starting right tackle David Sanders Jr. was going to miss Week 1 due to an upper-body injury.
After the game, Josh Heupel revealed that Sanders, a true freshman, was expected to take the field for the home opener against East Tennessee State. In yet another setback for the youngster, though, that's not going to be the case. According to GoVols247's Patrick Brown, Sanders is expected to be out again in Week 2 due to his shoulder problem:
🚨🚨 Five-star freshman David Sanders Jr. out again for Tennessee’s home opener against ETSU.
— GoVols247 (@GoVols247) September 6, 2025
🔗 https://t.co/KlyZCaxbiO #Vols
5-star Tennessee freshman David Sanders Jr. will miss Week 2 with a shoulder injury
This has got to be a big disappointment for Sanders too. He graduated high school early and enrolled at Tennessee in January, which opened the door for him to participate in spring ball. He turned heads then and he followed that up with a great summer.
After missing the win against Syracuse, the hope was that he'd be fully cleared in time to make his home debut in front of more than 100,000 fans at Neyland Stadium on Saturday. That won't happen for him, however.
Looking ahead to next weekend, is Sanders going to be good to go for the monster Week 3 showdown against Georgia? That's now something that's totally up in the air, as it looks like Sanders' shoulder injury is a little more serious than everyone thought it would be.
With Sanders out for the contest against East Tennessee State, the expected Tennessee offensive line is, from left to right: Lance Heard, Shamurad Umarov, Sam Pendleton, Wendell Moe Jr. and Jesse Perry. Thankfully, the Vols are expected to cruise to a win against ETSU in this one, but the worry is now going to be on Sanders' long-term health moving forward.