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Terrance Carter aims to keep trending up with Texas Tech football team
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- Terrance Carter aims to keep trending up with Texas Tech football team
The Texas Tech football team 's tight ends had dinner one night this week with Jalin Conyers and Mason Tharp , the Red Raiders ' top two tight ends last year.
Conyers and Tharp, their careers as Red Raiders complete, are training for pro opportunities. Johncarlos Miller , Terrance Carter and Jason Llewellyn , among others, want to keep up the standards.
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"Amazing, just getting some insight from older guys," Miller said, "guys that are on the path I want to be on in the future. Talking to them about how their combine, their pro day, their media, their interview process went, it was really good. Just enlightening."
Conyers and Tharp were key components on the Red Raiders' 8-5 Liberty Bowl team last year. Now the onus is on Miller and Llewellyn as returning upperclassmen and Carter, who transferred from UL-Lafayette.
More: Texas Tech football goes all-in on big bodies at receiver
More: Texas Tech football has 31 players with new numbers this spring. See them all here.
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"If you're comparing the two rooms from last year," tight ends coach Josh Cochran said recently, "I think you had more of a true run blocker in Mason and a little bit more of your athletic pass catcher in Jalin Conyers — and they were both good enough to do both. And then JC (Miller) could kind of do both.
"I think this room has guys that are a little bit more of a total package. They're still getting better in each aspect, but they're also a very high-level pass catcher and run blocker already."
Miller caught 10 passes for 122 yards, including touchdowns in consecutive games against Washington State , North Texas and Arizona State . He and Conyers were much-anticipated transfers. Now the much-anticipated transfer is Carter, who went from being lightly recruited out of Harker Heights High School to in demand as a transfer-portal target three years later.
Texas Tech's Terrance Carter Jr. goes through a drill during spring football practice, Tuesday, April 8, 2025, at the Womble Football Center
Carter said he heard in December from Florida State, Illinois , Oklahoma , Auburn , Texas A&M, Arkansas , Wisconsin , Nebraska and more.
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Oh, and he heard from Conyers, who still wants to see the Red Raiders do well.
"He just texted me, 'Hey, this is the spot for you,'" Carter said. "He brought up Cochran and his past, what he helped him out with to be a better tight end. I just thought that would make me become a complete tight end, everything I needed."
Though Cochran said the 6-foot-2, 247-pound Carter passes muster in terms of being physical, Carter knows where his bread is buttered. Last season, he caught 48 passes for 689 yards and four touchdowns as a sophomore on a 10-4 team at UL-Lafayette.
Asked for his self-assessment, Carter said, "Honestly, I'd say one of a kind, just because at tight end, with my speed and versatility, it's hard to stop somebody that's 245, 250 moving at 21 miles per hour, 20 miles per hour. I'd say, honestly, just keep improving on my run game (blocking) would be a weakness for me."
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When Carter was looking for a new school, Tech's tight-ends usage was a selling point. Conyers, Tharp and Miller combined for 53 catches, 580 yards and 10 touchdowns last season. Carter wanted "a scheme, an offense that could fit my play style a little more.
"I just wanted to play to a bigger stage," he said, "and really show everybody what I can do."
He's already showing his new teammates.
"Terrance has been showcasing he can catch the ball at a very high level this spring," Miller said. "He's had a lot more receptions than I have, so I'll give him that. He has great ball skills. And I'll take that blocking aspect. But we're both dual tight ends. We're both really high-caliber tight ends. We can do whatever you want us to."
Texas Tech's Terrance Carter Jr. catches a pass during spring football practice, Monday, March 10, 2025, at the Womble Football Center.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Terrance Carter aims to keep trending up with Texas Tech football team
