Jace Amaro flies across the goal line. Photo courtesy of Manae Amaro.
One of the key components for the Texas Tech football team is starting tight-end Jace Amaro. The 6-foot-5, 257-pound prospect has much to offer on the field with his team leading 16.4 yards per catch, but Amaro said he hasn’t even reached his potential yet.
The 20-year-old engineering major was born in Plano, Texas, in 1992. He said he later moved with his family to San Antonio when he was 3. He has two sisters, the elder, Manae, a senior PR major at Tech.
“Without my family I’m not sure where I would be right now,” Amaro said. “That may be cliché, but it’s 100 percent true.”
Amaro has a very strong bond with his family. He said he would do anything for them. His family, he said, has been by his side through every obstacle he’s faced.
“I would give up my life for every single one of them,” Amaro said. “My family has always been there for me in every single circumstance that I’ve been through.”
He said football was something that came naturally to him when he was a kid.
“I actually got myself into football,” Amaro said. “One day at academy there was a Pop Warner sign-up sheet, and I told my dad I wanted to play. The rest is history.”
Amaro graduated from Macarthur High School in 2011. He was approached to play by many schools, but he said Tech was always the place for him.
“I have a lot of connections to Texas Tech, and I have always felt this was my home” Amaro said.
Former Head Coach Tommy Tuberville recruited Amaro to Tech. Amaro said he had a great relationship with the ex-Red Raider coach. Tuberville’s departure before the Meineke Car Care bowl had a profound effect on Amaro.
“I was filled with some emotions that I had only felt one other time in my life before,” Amaro said. “I was pretty upset about the whole situation.”
Amaro was struck with many emotions, but he said the hiring of new Head Coach Kliff Kingsbury has been a great fit for the team.
“I love Coach Kingsbury. I feel like I can relate so closely to his lifestyle and coaching,” Amaro said. “It’s a great feeling when you can walk into his office and talk to him about anything in life.”
During his short career at Tech, Amaro has experienced many of the highs and lows of being a student athlete. Amaro was arrested in the spring of 2012 for felony credit card abuse charges. He did not receive any criminal convictions for the incident. He said it was tough during the whole process because he knew he was not guilty.
“It was a challenge, of course, because people truly don’t know what actually happened or happens in those moments,” Amaro said. “It was a ‘do the right thing from now on’ lesson.”
Amaro believes his best asset is his passion on the football field. His emotions are evident after every touchdown or big catch.
“I think my emotions are my greatest asset when I know just how to use them correctly,” Amaro said. “No one on this planet understands how much winning means to me, how badly I want to win at every single thing I do.”
Amaro has lofty expectations for the upcoming season. He said he believes he and the team will be very accomplished this upcoming season.
“I am preparing myself to catch more than a 100 balls, and winning many team and personal trophies,” Amaro said. “I am going to prepare myself to play like I have never played before,” Amaro said. “I’ve been second all my life and I’m so sick of it. I plan on doing something that has never been done here before.”
Red Raider fans will not see Amaro starting on the field at the team’s season-opener against Southern Methodist University on Friday.
Amaro’s season will start halfway through the game due to a first-half suspension he received for his conduct during the 2012 Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas.
The bowl game was Amaro’s short-lived comeback game after a spleen injury troubled most of his season. He was ejected from the bowl game after punching a Minnesota defensive back.
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