“I had an idea for a little while that it was coming soon. I just didn’t know exactly when it was going to come,” said Sanders, who now holds offers from six teams, including Ole Miss, Kentucky and Virginia Tech.
“My dad and Coach Elarbee were teammates in college, so they already knew each other. They’ve probably been talking for about two weeks — at first, just catching up with each other, because they probably hadn’t talked to each other since college, and then just talking about me.”
The 6-foot-5, 285-pound Sanders said he never had “an exact favorite team,” adding that he “just usually watched all the SEC teams growing up.” But he admitted that the offer from Tennessee was a big deal to him.
“I was very excited to get that one,” he said. “I’ve lived in Tennessee my whole life, so it is the home-state school.
“I do expect to think of them as a top school, especially since it’s close to home. I’ll probably have a lot of friends going there, too, so I’ll definitely consider them in my top schools.”
Sanders said Elarbee informed him of the offer Monday afternoon.
“He liked just how my film looked and how I’ve grown into my body (from) my freshman year to sophomore year, and just how I’m a hard worker and how much I care about football,” Sanders said, recalling his conversation with Elarbee.
Sanders said Elarbee “didn’t tell me specifically” where the Vols might envision playing him on their offensive line. But Sanders said he has “heard from all the other colleges that they see me more as a guard than a tackle,” and he mostly played right guard during his sophomore season at Baylor.