Texas 2016 DT target D'Andre Christmas-Giles did not play in his junior season due to issues involving a transfer, and coming into his senior campaign at St. Augustine (LA), he was considered a somewhat-significant grade risk. Per Rivals' Mid-South Analyst Jason Howell, Christmas-Giles (or DCG) really came on in his senior season about halfway through the schedule and never looked back.
Along with the on-field breakout came news that DCG's chances of qualifying academically were on a major uptick and around the same time, a deluge of offers cascaded in. Texas threw its hat in the ring in late September and was promptly followed by Memphis, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, TCU, Oklahoma State, Arkansas, LSU and Miami among others.
It started in the preseason. Numerous schools began monitoring DCG after he blew up his 2016 preseason "Jamboree" highlights (In Louisiana, apparently schools get together and scrimmage in a round-robin-ish event called 'Jamboree') and the scholarship-letter floodgates opened in earnest once St. Augustine was a few games into its 2016 schedule.
DCG originally committed to Tennessee prior to his senior season (Tennessee was the first school to offer based on the reportedly outrageous Jamboree tape) but he decommitted in Mid-December, coincidentally, on the day after taking an official visit to Texas. He had also officially visited TCU earlier in the month, and it should be noted that DCG's decommitment from Tennessee may have had as much to do with a Friday LSU offer as it did with a subsequent weekend in Austin.
With Texas facing an historically desperate need at the defensive tackle position, Longhorn fans hope the story with DCG has a happier ending than the team's recent snipe-job of an out-of-state defensive prospect previously committed to Tennessee in 2015 LB Cecil Cherry.
Prospect Notes
- Highlights available on HUDL and Youtube show as many good things as bad things. Strangely, via the highlights DCG has made available on HUDL to (presumably) showcase his best talents, it can be gleaned that he is capable of failing to finish plays, arm-tackling, and struggling to re-direct. My first instinct was that he may make a better guard prospect than a defensive tackle due to an ability to own the point-of-attack but not necessarily finish with the nastiness inherent to so many dominant interior defenders.
- The Spring 2015 highlights are impressive but useless, as they show DCG dominating a set of very puny guards in a spring-ball, coaches-on-the-field setting. On the bright side, it's clear from spring tape that Christmas-Giles is not only a penetrating force from the three-technique or the shade, but also reasonably agile off the edge at 5-tech, in what would be a SDE-alignment at the college level, but is likely called a "tackle" at his high school.
- In taking in a few full games, though, it turns out - as usual - Howell was right. DCG is the real-deal and his highlight tapes don't do his skill set justice. This should make sense, as, who's going to bother with spending all that time to market themselves when big-time offers are coming in like crazy anyway?
- First off, in watching a few full games, you get to see DCG just kind of walk around between snaps next to other players, and you get a really firm idea of exactly the type of physical specimen he is. As a high school senior, he's almost certainly somewhere between 6-3 and 6-4. If he's not 300 pounds today, he's in the 290's with the frame to add significant solid mass. He still has plenty of room to fill out through the upper-thighs and rump and is not maxed-out by any means in the upper-body. DCG would basically enter the Texas program as its biggest interior defensive lineman as a true-freshman.
Scouting Notes versus Brother Martin (LA) (DT No. 77)
- Extremely fast first step - it's the first thing you notice from him on every play.
- Ability, like Tyrus Butler, to get almost unreasonably skinny through the gap and penetrate.
CLICK HERE FOR CLIP
- Uses hands, arms and positioning to engage violently but keeps offensive linemen well-away from his body with long arms and pressing power.
CLICK HERE FOR CLIP
- Gets held constantly - he's very hard to keep from his assignment.
CLICK HERE FOR CLIP
- Shows consistent ability to take on double-teams, diagnose and explode to the ball-carrier.
CLICK HERE FOR CLIP
- Will need to work on pad-level at the next level, but has no issues with core power, strength, size or motor.
- Plays every snap for his team and doesn't take plays off - not a loafer or a fat on/off-switch guy. Seems to be the "hype man" of the defense that gets the others fired up.
Is DCG Texas good? After spending a day evaluating his film, I say most certainly "yes."
As for how he compares to DTs in Texas, DCG is not the prospect that Ed Oliver is, but he's a different type of defensive tackle. DCG could end up being the better player in the end ... that is, if Oliver's tornado-motor and explosion abilities are already close to maxed out, which is a legitimate worry. Still, I would rank Oliver over DCG if DCG were a Texas prospect. After Oliver, DCG would, without a doubt, be the second-best DT prospect in Texas. If I were in charge of a college team, I would rather sign DCG than OU commit Chris Daniels, or, honestly, probably two Kendell Jones' or three Ross Blacklocks.
Given Texas' desperate need at the position and the fact that there appears to be mutual interest between DCG and the Longhorns staff, one thing is certain: he should be the highest-priority prospect left on the Texas board coming down the 2016 recruiting homestretch. It's shaping up to be an LSU vs. Texas showdown. Early indications from everything I've gleaned point to a decision coming down on national signing day.
Don't let the 50 seconds of crummy senior HUDL highlights fool you. D'Andre Christmas-Giles is a beast.
Along with the on-field breakout came news that DCG's chances of qualifying academically were on a major uptick and around the same time, a deluge of offers cascaded in. Texas threw its hat in the ring in late September and was promptly followed by Memphis, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, TCU, Oklahoma State, Arkansas, LSU and Miami among others.
It started in the preseason. Numerous schools began monitoring DCG after he blew up his 2016 preseason "Jamboree" highlights (In Louisiana, apparently schools get together and scrimmage in a round-robin-ish event called 'Jamboree') and the scholarship-letter floodgates opened in earnest once St. Augustine was a few games into its 2016 schedule.
DCG originally committed to Tennessee prior to his senior season (Tennessee was the first school to offer based on the reportedly outrageous Jamboree tape) but he decommitted in Mid-December, coincidentally, on the day after taking an official visit to Texas. He had also officially visited TCU earlier in the month, and it should be noted that DCG's decommitment from Tennessee may have had as much to do with a Friday LSU offer as it did with a subsequent weekend in Austin.
With Texas facing an historically desperate need at the defensive tackle position, Longhorn fans hope the story with DCG has a happier ending than the team's recent snipe-job of an out-of-state defensive prospect previously committed to Tennessee in 2015 LB Cecil Cherry.
Prospect Notes
- Highlights available on HUDL and Youtube show as many good things as bad things. Strangely, via the highlights DCG has made available on HUDL to (presumably) showcase his best talents, it can be gleaned that he is capable of failing to finish plays, arm-tackling, and struggling to re-direct. My first instinct was that he may make a better guard prospect than a defensive tackle due to an ability to own the point-of-attack but not necessarily finish with the nastiness inherent to so many dominant interior defenders.
- The Spring 2015 highlights are impressive but useless, as they show DCG dominating a set of very puny guards in a spring-ball, coaches-on-the-field setting. On the bright side, it's clear from spring tape that Christmas-Giles is not only a penetrating force from the three-technique or the shade, but also reasonably agile off the edge at 5-tech, in what would be a SDE-alignment at the college level, but is likely called a "tackle" at his high school.
- In taking in a few full games, though, it turns out - as usual - Howell was right. DCG is the real-deal and his highlight tapes don't do his skill set justice. This should make sense, as, who's going to bother with spending all that time to market themselves when big-time offers are coming in like crazy anyway?
- First off, in watching a few full games, you get to see DCG just kind of walk around between snaps next to other players, and you get a really firm idea of exactly the type of physical specimen he is. As a high school senior, he's almost certainly somewhere between 6-3 and 6-4. If he's not 300 pounds today, he's in the 290's with the frame to add significant solid mass. He still has plenty of room to fill out through the upper-thighs and rump and is not maxed-out by any means in the upper-body. DCG would basically enter the Texas program as its biggest interior defensive lineman as a true-freshman.
Scouting Notes versus Brother Martin (LA) (DT No. 77)
- Extremely fast first step - it's the first thing you notice from him on every play.
- Ability, like Tyrus Butler, to get almost unreasonably skinny through the gap and penetrate.
CLICK HERE FOR CLIP
- Uses hands, arms and positioning to engage violently but keeps offensive linemen well-away from his body with long arms and pressing power.
CLICK HERE FOR CLIP
- Gets held constantly - he's very hard to keep from his assignment.
CLICK HERE FOR CLIP
- Shows consistent ability to take on double-teams, diagnose and explode to the ball-carrier.
CLICK HERE FOR CLIP
- Will need to work on pad-level at the next level, but has no issues with core power, strength, size or motor.
- Plays every snap for his team and doesn't take plays off - not a loafer or a fat on/off-switch guy. Seems to be the "hype man" of the defense that gets the others fired up.
Is DCG Texas good? After spending a day evaluating his film, I say most certainly "yes."
As for how he compares to DTs in Texas, DCG is not the prospect that Ed Oliver is, but he's a different type of defensive tackle. DCG could end up being the better player in the end ... that is, if Oliver's tornado-motor and explosion abilities are already close to maxed out, which is a legitimate worry. Still, I would rank Oliver over DCG if DCG were a Texas prospect. After Oliver, DCG would, without a doubt, be the second-best DT prospect in Texas. If I were in charge of a college team, I would rather sign DCG than OU commit Chris Daniels, or, honestly, probably two Kendell Jones' or three Ross Blacklocks.
Given Texas' desperate need at the position and the fact that there appears to be mutual interest between DCG and the Longhorns staff, one thing is certain: he should be the highest-priority prospect left on the Texas board coming down the 2016 recruiting homestretch. It's shaping up to be an LSU vs. Texas showdown. Early indications from everything I've gleaned point to a decision coming down on national signing day.
Don't let the 50 seconds of crummy senior HUDL highlights fool you. D'Andre Christmas-Giles is a beast.
