WR Carter makes impact, looks for more with West Virginia
West Virginia wide receiver Devin Carter was brought into the football program this off-season to serve as the primary pass catching option for the Mountaineers.
The North Carolina State transfer spent five seasons with the Wolfpack and was productive during his time in Raleigh hauling in 118 catches for 1,906 yards and 10 touchdowns. The Mountaineers wanted to bring a veteran into the mix in order to provide a jolt to the rest of the pass catchers group.
But after reeling in 6 catches for 90 yards in the season opener against Penn State, Carter had managed just 3 grabs for 51 yards over the next four games, although he missed one due to injury.
Now, some of that can be attributed to the situation at quarterback with Garrett Greene going down with an injury in the Pittsburgh game and just finally getting back to health over the bye week.
Related: West Virginia must find way to bounce back
And if the Houston game is any indication, it seems that a big second half could be in store for Carter.
The redshirt senior hauled in 5 catches for 116 yards and led the team with 11 total targets. Carter had a trio of catches over 20+ yards with one of those traveling 49.
“I felt like I just got more comfortable and got a few more opportunities in this game and was glad to capitalize on them. But there were still a few plays left out there,” he said.
Carter has had to develop both timing and chemistry with both of the quarterbacks which has taken some time. Still, he believes that things are starting to come together and are coming off their best performance of the season despite being in a losing effort.
The good news for Carter is that he has dealt with multiple quarterbacks earlier in his career during his time at North Carolina State, especially last season when it was a rotating door at the position. So, while it takes some time to settle in, Carter was never discouraged.
“I think that definitely helped me to have a mindset that it doesn’t matter who’s back there,” he said.
In the Houston game, West Virginia used pre-snap motion to get Carter all over the field and he was able to beat man coverage during the course of the game for many of his big plays. The motion helped to free up Carter at times and he took advantage of it with his biggest performance to date.
“It was different. Makes you think a little more but it was good. It was good to get that opportunity to play both sides so the defense can’t have a set plan on you,” he said.
But head coach Neal Brown believes that he likely left about 60-yards on the field and there is room for him to improve even more moving forward.
"We’re going to continue to that. That was positive for him and we can continue to grow his role in that," Brown said.
It was something that West Virginia saw in practice as Carter had production on the inside and it gave him more flexibility as well while creating those free runs.
"Big body guy that can get free runs. Using his physicality to create separation and use his speed and physicality. That was a game changer for us," coordinator Chad Scott said. "Opening up more on the outside and the run game."
Carter believes that as a receiver man coverage is something that he should want to go against and he should get a healthy dose of that against Oklahoma State. The passing game has to continue to take a step forward for this football team to reach its peak offensively.
And Carter is expected to be a big part of that.
“You have to trust the play calling and make plays when it does come your way,” he said.
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