Texas Football: The worst day of 2020 so far in NCAA Transfer Portal
Combine both Texas football DT’s Gerald Wilbon and D’Andre Christmas-Giles putting their names in the portal on the same day and the loss in depth is huge.
What was double-dose of bad news for the Texas football program along the defensive line on Jan. 21, head coach Tom Herman figured out that he would be losing two key experienced seniors to the NCAA Transfer Portal. Both senior defensive tackles Gerald Wilbon and D’Andre Christmas-Giles had their intentions surface to put their names in the transfer portal on the same day.
The reports came about from 247Sports that both Wilbon and Christmas-Giles could be departing from the Texas Longhorns football program on Tuesday. Those are the two most experienced defensive tackles that the Longhorns had left coming back for the 2020 season.
Part of the reason why the Longhorns could be losing both defensive tackles is the rise of redshirt freshman Keondre Coburn. During the 2019 campaign, Coburn took control of the starting defensive tackle job and solidified that status with a solid showing in Texas’ Alamo Bowl over the No. 11 ranked Utah Utes on Dec. 31 by the final score of 38-10.
Coburn finished up his redshirt freshman season with 4.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, 24 total tackles, and one forced fumble. The 6-foot-2 and 340 pound former four-star recruit is the future anchor of this Texas defensive line.
https://twitter.com/DandreChristmas/status/1219776036650528769
On the same day that the reports of his intentions to put his name in the transfer portal came about, Christmas-Giles had two posts show up on his Twitter timeline. One just announced again his intentions to transfer and the other stated “I’ll play anywhere I’m able to compete”.
https://twitter.com/DandreChristmas/status/1219784875307237377
What the Longhorns will be losing in Christmas-Giles is a defensive tackle who had six career total tackles, one sack, and one fumble recovery. The 6-foot-3 and 315 pound lineman played in just seven games in his career with the Longhorns.
Meanwhile, Wilbon was a bit more productive during his career on the Forty Acres. He racked up 19 total tackles, 0.5 sacks and tackles for loss, and one fumble recovery during his college career up to this point. Wilbon played in 13 games over the course of four years with the Longhorns.
Wilbon wound up redshirting last season after he didn’t play in a single game. The writing was on the wall for his potential transfer out of the Texas program.
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Although the reasoning behind the transfers of Wilbon and Christmas-Giles make sense, this is a huge loss in depth at the defensive tackle position. The combination of these two names surfacing in the transfer portal has to be considered the worst single day on this topic for the Longhorns during this calendar year to date.