Jackson Carver

#85 · TE · R-Jr. · Miami6′6″ · 250 lb · Woodbury, MN · The Loomis Chaffee School

Jackson Carver is a three-star recruit from Woodbury, MN, out of The Loomis Chaffee School (No. 674 in the 2023 class) who has not played in Miami's 8 games this season.

Where Carver comes from

  • Woodbury, MNHometown
  • The Loomis Chaffee SchoolHigh school
  • The Loomis Chaffee School is about 1,100 miles from Hard Rock StadiumDistance
  • Three-star, No. 674 in the 2023 class.Recruiting profile
  • On the Miami roster since 2023Roster

Where Carver fits

The consensus depth chart of May 27 lists Carver at TE, No. 1.

Miami lists 10 tight ends this season.

Miami tight ends with a game this season

Miami is 8-0, No. 1 in the AP poll (week 10). Next: at Notre Dame, Sat Nov 7.

Similar players

Same class and position

Also from Woodbury, MN

The story

As of

The story in Coral Gables before the season wasn't Carver specifically — it's the room he's in. Miami's tight ends combined for just 45 catches, 445 yards and four touchdowns across 16 games in 2025, one of the program's least productive groups in 25 years, and Elijah Arroyo took the position's ceiling with him to Seattle as a second-round pick. New tight ends coach Mike Viti inherited an open job, and the beat consensus has Elija Lofton penciled in as TE1 with sophomore Luka Gilbert and incoming pieces all auditioning behind him.

Read the rest of the story

Carver is the wildcard in that audition — the bet-on-the-body name. A Minnesota kid who grew up on hockey and lacrosse and barely played football until Culver Academy, he arrived as a project with a rare frame, an extended catch radius and defensive-line nastiness as a blocker. But the snaps haven't followed: action in a handful of games as a redshirt freshman, and a 2025 that left him outside the production. That's the tension the watch lists won't say out loud — he keeps landing on aspirational Mackey radar while his stat line stays close to blank.

Which makes 2026 the year the projection either cashes or expires. A new coach, a thin depth chart, and a program that publicly needs more from this spot all point the same direction: opportunity. The question the boards keep circling back to is simple and a little uncomfortable — is Jackson Carver finally the answer, or just the most athletic version of 'maybe next year' on a unit Miami can't afford to keep waiting on?

Update (Nov. 2, 2026): Through Miami's first eight games our box-score data shows no catches or carries for him.

Style of play

Style of play

Play style

No 2025 play-by-play to lean on here, so this is a scouting read: Carver is a movement outlier at 6-6, 250 with a former-lacrosse-player's body control and an extended catch radius, the kind of frame that wins on seams and back-shoulder throws if the targets ever come. The film and recruiting profile flag him as comfortable both in-line and flexed out, with real run-blocking grit traced back to his defensive-line reps at Culver. The gap isn't athletic, it's experiential — a multi-sport convert still banking football reps — so the projection is all about reliability of hands and route detail catching up to the tools.