Penn State football lineman Jimmy Christ enters NCAA transfer portal
The Penn State football program has lost a veteran offensive lineman to the NCAA transfer portal. Tackle Jimmy Christ announced Sunday that he intends to move on from the Nittany Lions after three seasons in State College. He has three years of eligibility left.
The Sterling, Va., native did participate in spring practice, which wrapped up Saturday with the Blue-White game. However, as that contest was going on, the 15-day spring transfer portal window opened. Christ decided to hop in immediately.
A former four-star recruit in the On3 Industry Rankings, Christ came to Penn State in the Class of 2020 with hopes of progressing enough to win a starting job. However, he did not see game action in year one and only played in the Rutgers game in 2021. Last season, the lineman did see time in 10 games, but almost all of his snaps came on special teams and/or once a contest was out of hand.
Blue-White Illustrated’s spring depth chart suggested Christ would be a reserve again this season. So, his decision to move on to try and find more playing time elsewhere makes sense.
Additional Nittany Lions are expected to follow Christ into the portal during the spring window, which runs through the end of April. It’s important to note that a player does not need to make a decision by the time it closes. He must, however, declare his intention to enter the portal by then if he’s an undergraduate. Graduate students can transfer at any time, and thus the window does not apply to them.
Penn State aims to build tackle depth
Christ’s departure does sting some because the Lions want as many tackles as possible on the roster. But, the sting is not terribly significant seeing that it’s unclear if Christ was ever going to live up to his four-star billing out of high school and be able to play at the Big Ten level.
During spring practice, Penn State coach James Franklin often talked about wanting to find at least a two-deep at offensive tackle. Christ’s departure doesn’t stand in the way of that happening. However, questions remain about whether or not Drew Shelton can play right tackle or if he’ll back up Olu Fashanu on the left side, which would pave the way for Caedan Wallace to start at right tackle. Aside from those three, though, it’s unclear who the program’s fourth tackle will be, and that may be something it tries to address in the portal this spring.
