The No. 1 prospect in the country for the 2025 class, per multiple recruiting services, is Providence Day School (Charlotte, N.C.) five-star offensive lineman David Sanders.

That billing as the nation’s best player in his class, regardless of position, is not something the 6-foot-7, 260-pound rising junior takes lightly or for granted.

“Having that No. 1 player label on your name is obviously a big deal for me,” Sanders told The Clemson Insider recently. “You get a lot of respect from your peers and from other athletes around the country, and it’s a huge opportunity to showcase your talents and to show why you’re the best each and every week. When you go to the (prospect) camps and everything, you just put on a show and show people why you’re the No. 1 athlete in the country. But it’s no pressure for me. I work hard and do everything to prepare myself to compete against the best, so I feel like I am the best. But having that No. 1 title is an honor and a blessing and I’m truly grateful to be in this position.”

As you’d expect for a prospect of his caliber, Sanders holds a slew of scholarship offers and has many of the country’s top college football programs to choose from.

It’s still relatively early in the recruiting process for him, but it’s going well as he plans out trips for the spring. One of the schools he’s looking to get back to is Clemson.

“Everything’s been going pretty smooth,” he said of his recruitment. “The dead period is lifted, so we’re going to expect a lot of coaches to get me back on campus. So I’m excited for that, and for the spring I’m looking to visit Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State and South Carolina, and Clemson as well.”

Sanders traveled to Clemson a couple of times last spring and then attended the NC State game at Death Valley this past October. When he returns to campus this spring, there’s several things he hopes to get out of his next trip to Tiger Town.

“As it’s getting deeper in the recruiting (process) and closer to me making a decision, I think it’s me looking for that home vibe that I get from Clemson,” he said. “I always get it when I go there anyways, but just looking to build that relationship with the coaches and just see if it feels like home, and connect with some of the players and see how they like it. Because I know a lot of the freshmen that are early enrolled into Clemson and I get to talk to them often, and just see how they like it and see how they feel. So, I’m looking to see how Coach Austin (offensive line coach Thomas Austin) does in his second year at Clemson. Last year was his first year and he did pretty good, and now that he’s got a solid foundation and a new line, I look forward to seeing how they progress over the years.”

Sanders detailed the biggest things on his checklist that he’s looking for in a school as he goes through the process, makes various visits and evaluates different places and programs.

“Definitely just making sure that there’s even a fit for me, a fit for me and my family, something that they think will benefit me not only as a football player but as a student as well,” he said. “I want to go to a school that can align me educationally and make me a better student, so I can go somewhere where I can major in something that I enjoy. That’ll be a big deal for me as well. So, I’m just looking for the family atmosphere, a good winning football program and everything like that. Just building that relationship with all the coaches that I meet, some of the players and everything like that. So when I go on these visits, I’m just looking to build a good relationship to where I feel comfortable that I’m committed to a better school.”

With two years of high school still ahead of him, Sanders isn’t close to a college decision yet.

“It’s not going to be anytime soon,” he said. “Definitely it’ll be before my senior year, so maybe this time next summer or something like that would be an ideal time for me. But nothing set in stone yet because I still have plenty of visits and plenty of schools to visit and great coaches to meet. So, I’m just still trying to figure everything out and just go from there.”

Clemson has yet to offer any class of 2025 prospects, though Sanders is a strong candidate to eventually collect an offer from the Tigers, who typically don’t start offering recruits until the summer before their junior year.

Sanders anticipates receiving an offer from Clemson this summer, and if that’s the case, it would certainly be a big deal for him and make the Tigers a top contender in his recruitment.

“I think Clemson will offer me over the summer,” he said. “I’ve been hearing some good things from the coaches and everything like that. So getting an offer from Clemson would mean the world to me obviously because that was one of my favorite schools growing up, and just knowing what their program is about, that’s such a big accomplishment for me. Because if Clemson offers you, they’re not just offering you because they’re offering every guy in the country. They offer you because they truly like you as a player, a person and a student.

“You’ve got to be an all-around person to get an offer from Clemson, and that’s one of the things I love most about their program and the school in general. Dabo has always been that way and he’s continuing to stick to his morals and values as a coach. So if I get an offer from Clemson, I know that they’re strictly focused on me and not a hundred other left tackles that they’re trying to recruit. So when they come to offer, it’s a very big deal, and they’d definitely be on the top of my list for sure.”

Dear Old Clemson has added the Tiger Sack Pack to our online store.  Save by getting the Two Pack of signed cards from two of the nation’s top defensive ends, Myles Murphy and Xavier Thomas.

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