Like any football team in 2025, Texas Tech has several players whose performance will be particularly critical to the squad's success. These players, whether by virtue of experience, leadership, importance of the position played, depth concerns, or sheer talent, are especially crucial. They may or not be the best players on the club, but they would be very conspicuous were they to be absent for any reason. In fact, that may be the best way to conceive of the critical players—they are the performers the team could least afford to lose.
No. 14
Johncarlos Miller
6-5, 240
Tight End
Junior
Greensboro, North Carolina
Last year Texas Tech had a very effective tight end trio in Mason Tharpe, Jaylin Conyers and Johncarlos Miller. In 2025 the trio becomes a duo as Miller vies with Louisiana transfer Terrance Carter for snaps and the starting berth at that position. If Miller builds upon his solid 2024 campaign and Carter is the player he's cracked up to be, tight end will still be in excellent hands, so to speak...
When looking at the talent Texas Tech had at the position in recent years, Red Raider fans constantly clamored for the tight ends to be used more in the passing game. And the coaches, whether they be the staffs of Matt Wells or Joey McGuire, assured one and all that, yes, the tight ends would get more touches, in a manner of speaking. But, like so much offseason football talk, this proved to mainly be a load of hot methane. If tight end usage actually increased, it wasn't by much.
That may change--famous last words--however in 2025. To a certain extent, the tight ends were just never going to be featured prominently so long as Tahj Brooks was around. Texas Tech's offense, for entirely good and obvious reasons, was highly Tahj-centric. When you had a workhorse back like Brooks in the fold, and he was plowing his way to a school record in rushing attempts and yardage, the supremacy of the passing attack was going to fade and the tight ends, rarely the featured receivers in any offense, just weren't going to see a huge number of ball coming their way.
But Brooks is now a memory, and he's earning his crust of bread from the Cincinnati Bengals rather than Texas Tech University. That doesn't mean we're returning to the days of B.J. Symons, Wes Welker, Carlos Francis, Mickey Peters and Jarrett Hicks, however. J'Koby Williams, Quinten Joyner and Cameron Dickey will pick up a great deal of Brooks' slack. But it does stand to reason that the ground game will be deemphasized somewhat and concomitantly that the passing game will ascend. And with more aerials we will likely see more passes headed to Miller and Carter.
And Miller certainly has the tools to make the most of his opportunities. He catches the ball well, plays better the closer to the goal line he gets, has good size and is very athletic. On top of that, he's a plus blocker in both the running and passing games, which means he can be an every-down player. That's the suite of an all-around tight end.
But Carter will be neck-and-neck with Miller. He was an extremely productive tight end last year for Louisiana and will certainly factor in the passing game at Texas Tech. Look for both players to play large snaps, probably even in 12-personnel packages.