Ja'Tavion Sanders (born March 27, 2003) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, earning all-conference honors in 2022 and 2023.

Early life and high school

Sanders grew up in

Denton, Texas Denton is a city in and the county seat of Denton County, Texas, United States. With a population of 139,869 as of 2020, it is the 27th-most populous city in Texas, the 197th-most populous city in the United States, and the 12th-most populous ...

and attended

Billy Ryan High School Billy Ryan High School (Ryan or RHS) is a public high school located in east Denton, Texas. It is the second high school of the Denton Independent School District and classified as a 5A school by the UIL. The original building for the school ...

, where he played basketball and was a wide receiver and defensive end on the football team. He was named first team All-District 4-5A Division 1 at defensive end after recording 39 tackles, 20 tackles for loss, 11 sacks, two forced fumbles, and three passes broken up while also catching 47 passes for 763 yards and 7 touchdowns on offense. Sanders had 63 receptions for 1,161 yards and 16 touchdown receptions with three rushing touchdowns while also recording four sacks and an interception on offense and was named the co-MVP of District 5-5A Division 1. Sanders was rated a five-star recruit as an athlete and committed to play college football at

over offers from

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

, Notre Dame,

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, and

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

College career

Sanders joined the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...

as an early enrollee in 2021 and played on both offense and defense during preseason practices. The team's coaching staff ultimately decided that he would play tight end. Sanders played in all 12 of the Texas's games during his freshman season, primarily on special teams. Sanders entered his sophomore season as the Longhorns' primary tight end after transfer

Jahleel Billingsley Jahleel Billingsley (born May 17, 2001) is an American football tight end who currently plays for the San Antonio Brahmas of the XFL. He played college football for the Texas Longhorns and Alabama Crimson Tide. Early life and high school Billi ...

was suspended for the team's first six games. Sanders was twice-named All-Big 12 before declaring for the 2024 NFL draft following the team's loss in the 2024 Sugar Bowl.

Professional career

References

External links

*
Texas Longhorns bio
Living people American football tight ends Texas Longhorns football players Players of American football from Denton, Texas 2003 births {{tightend-stub