Texas DT target D'Andre Christmas-Giles decommits from Tennessee

Rising New Orleans (La.) St. Augustine defensive tackle D'Andre Christmas-Giles is no longer committed to the Tennessee Volunteers after announcing the decision to open up his recruitment via Twitter on Sunday:

I'm officially open for recruitment pic.twitter.com/fUSBZFaCek

— D.Christmas-Giles (@_DChristmas) December 13, 2015

The news comes after the 6'3, 290-pounder tripped to Austin for an official visit with the Texas Longhorns and just days after picking up an offer from the home-state LSU Tigers. Texas was considered a strong contender to flip Christmas-Giles after offering him in late September, but his recruitment has continued to take off and the LSU offer could be a game-changer.

In fact, there are now five predictions for the Tigers in the 247Sports Crystal Ball of Christmas-Giles, so no matter how well the trip to Austin went, it might not be enough to overcome the connections that so many Louisiana prospects feel towards the state's only top-shelf football program.

Christmas-Giles was a relatively overlooked prospect several months ago, but he's seen his offer list increase quickly over the last several months and he's made some big jumps in the rankings -- Rivals now considers him a four-star prospect, the No. 82 player nationally and the No. 6 defensive tackle in the country.

His senior film helped bolster those rankings and show an improved first step and more developed ability to shoot gaps to wreak havoc. Playing high is still an issue, but the jump in the rankings are justified and the corresponding elevation of his short-term upside makes him an even more important target for the Longhorns.