Providence Day high school football player David Sanders stepped off an elevator with a brand new pair of red and white Air Jordan cleats slung around his neck. That big smile he’s long been known for his is also coming with him. And Sanders, 18, has lots of reasons to be happy.
He may be the best high school football player in America: 6-foot-6, nearly 300 pounds, nimble and sought after by nearly every big-time college football program you can think of. Sanders, who started to play football when he was 7, goes to camps and combines and puts up the type of statistical measurements coaches might expect to see from an NFL lineman, not someone about to start his senior year in high school. On the field, Sanders plays left tackle and his coach, Chad Grier, said Sanders has allowed two sacks in three seasons.
That is not a misprint. Last November, Sanders blocked an extra point and helped force a safety late in the game against a nationally-ranked opponent that helped his team win a third straight state title. At one time or another, most of the major national recruiting services have ranked Sanders No.
1 among all high school players in his class. He’s everybody’s 5-star recruit. “It’s bittersweet moment knowing I’m a senior,” Sanders said.
“The first time I applied to Providence Day (in seventh grade), I didn’t get it in. Just being here, sometimes you can take it for granted, going to a great private school, great education, great athletics. We always had gre.