Inside Pitt TE Karter Johnson's Dramatic Position Switch

PITTSBURGH -- Pitt Panthers senior Karter Johnson's football career began 15 years ago, but it was born again three years ago, as he began the ambitious position switch from defensive tackle to tight end.

Nearly 100 pounds and two schools later, Johnson scored his first touchdown as a college football player in the FBS, hauling in a one-yard reception during the Panthers' 45-7 victory over Wofford in the 2023 season opener.

First Pitt TD pass for @PJurkovec 🙌

First Pitt TD for @TheRealKaJohns 🙌#H2P » #BAM pic.twitter.com/xFGOlJdyo2
— Pitt Football (@Pitt_FB) September 4, 2023

“It’s been a long ride from 330 [pounds] to where I’m at now," Johnson said. It’s a surreal experience. Didn’t feel like I was really there. It was just awesome. My team was really had my back, supporting me. Phil [Jurkovec] threw me a great ball and I made a play.”

Where he is now is 237 pounds (still 18 pounds lighter than what he was listed at during training camp), a body that was painstakingly built during the 2020 offseason. He began the transformation while he was still at TCU, the school he committed to as a four-star prospect coming out of Pickering Central High School in Pickering, Ohio.

He didn't play at all for the Horned Frogs, so after his freshman season began to run at least a mile almost every day. When he wasn't running, he was doing cardio, core strength training and cross fit, all while consuming 1,200 calories or fewer per day.

"It was rough at first. I started at TCU to lose the weight," Johnson said. "We had a great meal plan there. I started just eating like chicken, eating all the good stuff. I didn’t really know too much about nutrition, just what I saw on the internet. And I saw that if you burn more calories than you eat, you’ll lose weight. So that’s what I did.”

Johnson said prior to last season that he went from 338 pounds to just 215, losing much of his strength in the process. As he got back into football at Butler Community College in Kansas - this time as a tight end - the key was regaining strength and, three years removed from the massive weight loss, feels like he has it back.

He was known for his ability to maul defenders as a blocker and Johnson has shown increasingly impressive pass-catching traits. With more time in his still very new position, more comfort has followed.

Johnson is continuing to learn the ins and outs of being a tight end, but he's miles more confident than he was and still has room to grow.

“It was difficult for me because I didn’t know if I was good or not," Johnson said. "I knew I was a decent defensive lineman, I knew what to do. I had been studying it my whole life. So to go from 12 years of defensive line to three years of tight end is just all brand new so I’m still learning every day.”

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