From ‘Hooper’ to NFL Draft Visit with Packers for Defensive Lineman

South Carolina Gamecocks defensive tackle T.J. Sanders (90) sacks Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Jackson Arnold. / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn ImagesGREEN BAY, Wis. – T.J. Sanders’ biography at South Carolina notes he “also played basketball.”

He did more than “also” play basketball. At Marion (S.C.) High School, he was an all-state basketball player as a junior and the state’s defensive player of the year in football as a senior.

“I was a hooper. I wasn’t touching no football,” the NFL-bound defensive tackle, who had a predraft visit with the Green Bay Packers on Friday, according to a source, said at South Carolina’s pro day. “One minute you think you are going to…