David Sanders injury update: Josh Heupel explains Tennessee OL’s absence vs. Syracuse

Tennessee five-star freshman offensive lineman David Sanders Jr. was a late and surprising scratch ahead of Saturday’s season-opener against Syracuse, which the 24th-ranked Volunteers won 45-26 from Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Even Sanders himself was caught off-guard by the move.

Thankfully, it appears Sanders’ much-anticipated debut at Tennessee won’t be delayed much longer after Vols head coach Josh Heupel provided a welcomed update on his status moving forward. Heupel explained the decision to sit Sanders came from the team’s medical staff after the five-star freshman “got knicked up” in Wednesday’s practice.

“Just late in practice on Wednesday (he) kind of got knicked up and (we) anticipated him being able to play but this morning our medical staff thought it probably wasn’t the right thing to do,” Heupel said postgame Saturday. “And we’re always going to be mindful our guys and their health, and if they get cleared and they’re realdy to roll, we’ll play with them. It was hard for David, when he got that news. He anticipated being ready to play and there’s a lot of work that he’s put into it. I thought he handled it extremely well, he was a great teammate today, and we anticipate him being back as we get going next week.”

Tennessee face in-state FCS foe East Tennessee State next Saturday (3:30 pm ET, ESPN+) and then host No. 5 Georgia in both teams’ SEC opener on Sept. 13.

The 6-foot-6 and 305-pound Sanders was a Five-Star Plus+ prospect, the No. 2 offensive tackle in the class and the No. 9 overall player in the 2025 recruiting cycle, according to Rivals Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all three major recruiting media companies.

Joey Aguilar calls out ‘rat poison’ after Tennessee’s season-opening win over Syracuse

This offseason has been a long one for the Tennessee Volunteers. In particular, there’s been an increased focus on the quarterback position with the late transfer of Nico Iamaleava, only to be replaced by Joey Aguilar.

In his first game at Tennessee, the Volunteers put up 45 points in a neutral site win over the Syracuse Orange. It was, in many respects, a statement game. That included some proof that, despite all the talk that the program had to endure throughout the offseason, the Volunteers were more than capable on offense.

After the game, Aguilar called out that talk, referring to it as rat poison. Instead, he explained, of listening to that, the Volunteers have stayed focused internally.

“Like he said, all the outside noise is just rat poison,” Joey Aguilar said. “We only focus about who’s in the building and the team we’ve got. So, we’ve got to go back, execute, dial in on everything we got. Like he said, it’s FEB. Everything outside is rat poison, and we got to focus on ourselves.”

— On3’s Dan Morrison contributed to this report.