Texas Football: 5 biggest fall camp position battles
5. Starting defensive tackle
The competition: Gerald Wilbon (Sr.), Keondre Coburn (RS-Fr.), D’Andre Christmas Giles (RS-Sr.)
The often discussed (at least on Hook’em Headlines) starting defensive tackle position battle could finally come to a head in fall ball. For the better part of the last three seasons, Texas football didn’t have any position battle to speak of to anchor the middle of the defensive line.
This coming season will likely either see one of two players as the key starter at defensive tackle. The more experienced and proven option would be rising senior Gerald Wilbon. Another experienced option that will provide depth if injuries start to pile up, or if the line just needs a spark, is redshirt senior D’Andre Christmas Giles.
For the past three seasons, the roles that Wilbon and Christmas Giles held for the Longhorns were mostly on special teams. But Wilbon did work his way into the defensive line rotation more so as a junior than ever before. In his career with the Texas defense, Wilbon played in 13 games while racking up 19 total tackles, 0.5 sacks, and 1 fumble recovery. That one fumble recovery did come in last year’s Sugar Bowl win over Georgia.
Yet, the real intriguing option for Herman and defensive coordinator Todd Orlando for the long-term is redshirt freshman and former four-star defensive lineman signee Keondre Coburn. Injuries and lack of experience prevented Coburn from getting to play in more than two games last season, but he still has four years of eligibility remaining since he got a redshirt season in 2018.