Texas Tech football: KeSean Carter ready for breakout season in the slot

Junior KeSean Carter has moved to inside receiver and if what his coaches are saying is any indication, he’s primed for a breakout season for the Texas Tech football program.

I never understood why KeSean Carter was put at outside receiver by Kliff Kingsbury in 2018.  And I didn’t understand why Matt Wells and David Yost left him there for almost all of 2019.

After all, the 5-foot-11, 190-pounder lacks the typical size that teams look for in their wide receivers.  And while we’ve seen smaller players like Carlos Francis, Devin Lauderdale, and Reginald Davis have their share of success playing on the outside of the formation, from the moment Carter signed with Tech, he had the look of a slot receiver in the mold of Keke Coutee.

The two-sport athlete who runs track for Wes Kittley’s program is perfectly suited to play in the slot given his elusiveness and top-end speed and it is at inside receiver where he is at his best as playing off the line of scrimmage gives him an opportunity for an easier and cleaner release at the snap of the ball.  And we saw that first-hand in the 2019 season finale at Texas when he caught 11 passes for 150 yards and a TD in his first career start in the slot.

Now, he’s made the permanent move inside and it seems like he’s primed for a huge year.  In fact, when Wells was recently asked which of his players was the camp surprise on offense, it was Carter he highlighted.

"“KeSean Carter has had a really good camp,” Wells said on Wednesday.  “He really has.  He’s picked up right where he left off against Texas.  That’s not a surprise, it’s just somebody who comes to my mind that, I think, has really improved his stock and played well.  I look for him to have a breakout season.”"

Carter never seemed to be a fit on the outside.  He struggled to get open against press coverage given his lack of overall size.  And in his first two seasons (not couting last year’s finale) it was a struggle to get the ball to him as he caught just 42 passes for 391 yards and two TDs.  Playing outside, his best game was a 6-catch, 76-yard performance against FCS weakling Lamar.

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But now, he’s playing where he should have all along and that’s going to make the Red Raider offense all the more explosive.  For proof, let’s look at what he did against the Longhorns.

In last years 49-24 loss in Austin, six of his receptions went for at least 13 yards including  52-yard catch and run in the second quarter.  That’s the type of explosiveness Tech lacked at times last year as the Red Raiders were just 107th in the nation in yards per compltion at 11.5.

We did see the offense have some success at times using the slot receiver to challenge safeties deep but far too often, they were afterthoughts in the gameplan.  But this year, Carter’s elite explosiveness could open up the field for the passing attack by making teams fear his ability to get behind the defense.  Should that happen, it would be to the benefit of every receiver in the formation.

What’s more, putting Carter in the slot creates mismatches.  Typically, slots are checked by either a safety or a No. 3 corner, neither of which should be able to keep up with a player as fast as The Woodlands native is.

For instance, look at how he was used on his 52-yard reception in Austin.  (You can see the play below.)  Lined up in the left slot, he simply ran a go route against a safety who had man coverage.  Even though the safety was Caden Sterns, one of the best in the Big 12, if not the nation, Carter proved to be too much to handle as he made the reception and then picked up nearly twenty yards after the catch.

The great news for the Red Raiders is that Carter isn’t the only big-play threat there is at inside receiver.  Both Dalton Rigdon and McLane Mannix are more than capable of breaking loose, especially Rigdon who also ran track for the Red Raiders as a true freshman.  But neither of those players has as high of a ceiling as Carter.

"“…he’s put on good weight,” receivers coach Joel Filani said earlier this week.  “He’s holding at about 190 [pounds] and so for him, he’s more durable and he’s made a lot of splash plays.  The ball is finidng him, the quarterbacks are trusting him, we’re getting the ball to him so hopefully this year he can have that breakout season and never look back.”"

And now that he has finally found a home in the slot, he may be set to be the next dominant inside weapon for the Texas Tech football program.