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The state of Florida is a hotbed for some of the nation’s top football players in the country. When it comes to the running back position, the state is once again loaded from top to bottom, but when you’re talking about the most elite players in the nation, it’s not hard to look towards IMG Academy and the nation's number one running back in the nation for 2019, Trey Sanders.
“My freshman year I had no intentions of playing for a top team in the country like IMG,” Sanders said. “I had no intentions of even being the number one running back in the nation, but all I have to say that it’s a blessing to be in the situation that I am in right now, I’m going to live up to the hype.”
Sanders has been a part of the nation’s top running back room for the past two years with players like TJ Pledger and Noah Cain, but now that Pledger (who will be continuing his football career at Oklahoma University) is gone, Sanders and his teammate Noah Cain, who is ranked the number two running back in the nation, will lead the backfield for national powerhouse IMG Academy.
“We talking about it all the time actually,” Sanders said. “Everyone knows what’s up. Me and Noah are coming for everyone head, we work really hard every day with each other to make each other better. I feel like people don’t know what’s coming this year.”
For a player like Sanders who has been on the national scene since sophomore year, you would think that winning means everything to him, but what’s most important to him is the way his teammates perform.
“I’m just looking forward to seeing my boys get on the field and tear it up,” Sanders said. “Besides me, to be honest, I really don’t even care about winning or losing, I just want my teammates and my brothers to succeed and to get offers just like I am.”
Last Saturday (one day before Nike’s the Opening in Miami) marked one year exactly since Sanders visited Miami’s campus for the first time, so he felt it was only right to come back down one year later and visit Miami again.
“It was a lot different than the first time I visited,” Sanders said. “I really like Miami. The first time I visited, we really didn’t get a lot of attention because it was junior day, but the second visit, it got a kind of personal because I got to talk to Coach Richt and Thomas Brown a lot, so I feel we had a great conversation and Miami is going to be a good team.”
When it comes to relationships, Sanders says his relationship with Miami OC/RB coach Thomas Brown is “really tight.” Brown is making Sanders know he’s a top priority.
“He told me I’m a top priority for them,” Sanders said. “He took me to the meeting room and we were watching and analyzing film together. I feel like coach Thomas is pushing really hard because I’m really tight with him and we just don’t talk about football, we talk about life and that plays a big part in my recruitment. Like, can you make me better off the field instead of just on the field?”
Sanders was originally committed to Alabama since his sophomore season, but two years later, Sanders has re-opened his recruiting process. The Tide, however, remain in the picture.
“It’s not even the winning culture honestly, it’s just like look at the running backs that they’re putting in the league, it would be great to be a part of that,” Sanders said. “But at the end of the day, you have to do what’s best for you and your family, and if Alabama is that place for me then, I will go there. As of right now, though, I don’t know where I am going.”
Sanders says he currently has no team leading right now.
