Texas Longhorns football, you’re in the batter’s box in the latest round of “Who’s Next to Lose a Player to Portaling?”
According to 247Sports.com, a pair of defensive tackles, D’Andre Christmas-Giles and Gerald Wilbon, are set to transfer from UT. A Texas Longhorns football official has since confirmed that both players are now listed in the NCAA transfer database.
Christmas-Giles and Wilbon (pictured) will be leaving Austin as graduate transfers, allowing them to play immediately this coming season.
Both players came to the Longhorns as members of the Class of 2016. Christmas-Giles was a four-star signee, rated as the No. 35 tackle in the country and the No. 21 player regardless of position in the state of Louisiana. Wilbon was a three-star signee who was the No. 36 player from the same state.
Christmas-Giles wound up playing in 20 games for the Longhorns. Just one of those appearances came this past season. He was credited with six tackles and a fumble recovery.
Wilbon, meanwhile, appeared in 36 games, starting one of those contests his true freshman season. The 2018 second-team Academic All-Big 12 lineman has been credited with 19 tackles and a fumble recovery.
The 2020 season will be the final year of eligibility for both players. Because each of them played in fewer than four games in 2019, they were able to preserve a season of eligibility.
247Sports.com notes that Wilbon and Christmas-Giles are the sixth and seventh scholarship Texas Longhorns football players to enter the transfer portal this cycle. The others are wide receiver Jordan Pouncey (HERE), offensive tackle JP Urquidez (HERE), offensive tackle Javonne Shepherd (HERE), linebacker Caleb Johnson (HERE) and defensive back Donovan Duvernay (HERE).
Pouncey has since officially moved on, announcing his transfer to Florida on the same day his four-star 2020 defensive back brother committed to the Gators.