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Meeting RGIII 'a dream come true' for Texas Tech football's Terrance Carter Jr.
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- Meeting RGIII 'a dream come true' for Texas Tech football's Terrance Carter Jr.
Little kids look up to Texas Tech football players. Get close enough and they might even snare an autograph or a game-worn wristband.
The college football players can still get starry-eyed themselves. It happened last week when Tech tight end Terrance Carter Jr. spotted Robert Griffin III on the Jones AT&T Stadium turf, the former Heisman Trophy winner prepping for the Red Raiders ' game against Kansas in his role as a FOX television analyst.
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Seeing one of his childhood favorites, Carter couldn't let the moment pass.
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"It would be a dream come true," Carter said on Tuesday, Oct. 14. "I grew up an RG III fan. I wore the number 10 [Griffin's number at Baylor ] in high school playing quarterback. He's from Copperas Cove. I'm from Killeen. It's like 15 minutes away.
"I even went to camps while he was at Baylor . I don't think I got to talk to him at the camp, but when I saw him on the field, it was like, 'Aw, I have to say something to him.' So yeah, it was a pretty cool little moment."
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Griffin mentioned their pre-game conversation during the telecast of the Red Raiders' 42-17 victory .
"If you're from that Copperas Cove/Killeen, Texas, area, and you're playing D-I college ball, you must be a baller," Griffin said. "We don't get many that come out of there. But guys like Charles Tillman — Peanut punch — is from that area, amongst other greats, and Terrance Carter Jr. is trying to put his name in that category as well."
Texas Tech's Terrance Carter Jr. gestures before a non-conference football game, Saturday, September 6, 2025, at Jones AT&T Stadium.
Carter's one of four Tech receivers with 24 or 23 receptions this season. He's caught 23 for 297 yards and 5 touchdowns, tied for most in the FBS among players listed as tight ends.
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Griffin won the Heisman during his 2011 senior season at Baylor, then played seven years in the NFL.
Carter went to Harker Heights High School, a little less than an hour from the Baylor campus. The Bears went 10-3 in 2011 with Griffin passing for 4,293 yards and 37 touchdowns and rushing for 699 yards and 10 TDs.
Heroic stuff if you were a sports-minded elementary school kid nearby.
"I wouldn't say a hero. More like, I just grew up watching him," Carter said. "I loved his play style. I even had posters of RG III and stuff in my room and all that when he won the Heisman. It was just somebody I looked up to."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Why Texas Tech football's Terrance Carter Jr. chatted up RGIII
