Texas Tech football all-decade team: The receivers

Tight end: Jace Amaro

What’s tough to wrap your head around is the fact that Jace Amaro, the best tight end in program history only had one full year of productivity as a Red Raider.  Given how legendary he is in the minds of Red Raider fans, it feels like he was a four-year All-American.  That’s an indication of just how stellar that season was.

With 106 catches for 1,352 yards and seven touchdowns in 2013, Amaro was unlike any player we’ve seen in the Scarlet and Black during this or any other decade.  The 6-foot-5, 260-pounder from San Antonio could run like a wide receiver and was a matchup nightmare in the slot.

Earning unanimous All-American honors that year, he had the third-most catches and the fourth-most yards in a season by any Red Raider ever.  He parlayed that performance into a second-round selection by the New York Jets in the 2014 NFL Draft.

He was on his way to a fantastic 2012 campaign until an injury derailed his sophomore season.  Ironically, that setback came in the middle of his career-defining game.

On an afternoon when he caught five passes for 156 yards and a touchdown in an upset of No. 4 West Virginia in Lubbock, he sustained a lacerated spleen and a broken rib which ended his regular season after 23 catches and 396 yards.  He would return for that year’s bowl game against Minnesota to haul in two passes for 15 yards before being ejected for throwing a punch.

Still, there’s no denying how spectacular of a player he was.  And though his career essentially consisted of one full year of stardom, it’s a year Red Raider fans still talk about rather fondly.