Texas Tech football outfitted itself with another veteran tight end in Nevada transfer Jett Carpenter this offseason, and that pickup, combined with returning senior Terrance Carter Jr., an All-Big 12 Second Team pair of hands, makes the Red Raiders one of the deepest teams at tight end this spring.
Carter topped PFSN College’s top 10 returning Power Four tight ends list on Thursday morning, and Carpenter wasn’t far behind with a couple more Big 12 names on the list. Carter and Carpenter return 926 combined receiving yards.
Last year, Carter, finishing the 2025 season with an overall PFF grade of 82.2, the fourth-highest in the country, appeared in all 12 games at tight end and was fourth on the team in receptions with 46 and five touchdowns on his junior season. He’d catch three passes for 22 yards in Tech’s 34-7 win over BYU in the Big 12 title game.
New to the scene, Carpenter comes to Lubbock as his third stop after three seasons at Eastern Washington and another at Nevada; The Medford, Oregon, native caught 35 passes for 374 yards and two touchdowns as a true senior for the Wolfpack last year. He comes to Texas Tech with one year remaining.
Texas Tech loses just one tight end from its 2025 offense, outgoing senior Johncarlos Miller II, who tallied nine catches for 77 yards in his final season of college ball.
Competing indirectly with Texas Tech’s duo are Kansas State senior Garrett Oakley and UCF senior Dylan Wade.
Oakley returns to the Wildcats and Sean Gleeson‘s offense under head coach Collin Klein. The Columbus, Nebraska, native produced 38 catches for 389 yards and six touchdowns last season, including a season-high two touchdowns against TCU and another against then-No. 13 Texas Tech.
Wade, transferring to Orlando from Maryland a year ago, piled a career-high 43 receptions for 523 yards and five touchdowns for a Knights team that finished 12th in receiving. UCF fielded five different quarterbacks last year and is looking to James Madison transfer Alonza Barnett III to get things rolling for the Knights next season.
