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Josh Heupel updates injury status of Tennessee freshman offensive tackle David Sanders Jr.

IMG_3593by: Grant Ramey09/06/25GrantRamey
David Sanders Jr. | Matt Ray, Volquest
David Sanders Jr. | Matt Ray, Volquest

David Sanders Jr. missed his second straight game Saturday afternoon in Tennessee Football’s 72-17 romp over East Tennessee State in the season opener at Neyland Stadium. The five-star freshman and starting right tackle is out after being injured in practice on August 27.

“Dave, anticipated him being ready,” Josh Heupel said during his postgame press conference. “Ultimately, medical decided for him, for us, it probably wasn’t the best move to play him today.”

Heupel didn’t disclose the injury last week but said Sanders got “nicked up” late in practice.

Up Next: No. 22 Tennessee vs. No. 4 Georgia

Tennessee (2-0) opens SEC play at home against No. 4 Georgia (2-0) on Saturday at Neyland Stadium, with kickoff scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time on ABC.

“Anticipated him being able to play,” Heupel said during his postgame press conference after Tennessee’s win over Syracuse. “This morning, our medical staff just felt like probably wasn’t the right thing to do. We are always going to be mindful of our guys and their health.”

“Anticipate him being back as we get going next week,” Heupel said.

Sanders was in street clothes when Tennessee came to the field for pregame last week in Atlanta. Volquest was told at the time that the Sanders injury wasn’t expected to be a longterm issue.

“It was hard for David when he got that news,” Heupel said after the game. “He anticipated being ready to play (against Syracuse). … I thought he handled it extremely well.”

Jesse Perry replaced David Sanders at right tackle in first two games

Sanders is Tennessee’s starting right tackle and Brian Grant is listed as the backup, but Jesse Perry replaced Sanders at right tackle while Wendell Moe replaced Perry at right guard and Shamurad Umarov replaced Moe at left guard. Sam Pendleton started at center and Lance Heard started at left tackle.

“Those guys had a lot on their plate in preparation for (the Syracuse game),” Heupel said last week. “Left to right, I thought they played really well. There’s some things fundamentally that, at times, we’ll clean up to be a little bit more effective on some of our combinations.

“But all in all is a really good day from those guys. And that’s in the run game but also in the protection world.”

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