Carter Street remembers his official visit to Louisiana Tech well.

It was a unique one for sure.

Carter had committed to Derek Dooley and the Bulldogs months before the visit, choosing Louisiana Tech over Memphis, New Mexico and North Texas. He knew he wanted to be a Bulldog.

However, as he and his mother, Melinda, made the trek down I-20 to Ruston for that official visit, Carter received an interesting text message from his father.

"My dad texted me and said, `Your coach just quit,'" Carter remembers. "I was like what? Coach (Terry) Joseph then called me and told me (Derek) Dooley had left to go to Tennessee.

"I was already committed. It was an interesting weekend though. (Frank) Scelfo told us, `Go hang out with the players and have a good time with them because those are the people you are going to be around (during your college career).' I had to take it on faith that we would get a good coach."

Carter did not waiver from his commitment to Louisiana Tech despite the uncertainty of the coaching waters surrounding the program. He knew he was committing to the school, and not necessarily to one coach.

He also liked Ruston, which reminded him of home.

Pilot Point, Texas - population of about 5,000 - is located about 20 minutes northwest of Denton and is home to Carter. It is your normal small town in Texas, where high school football is king.

"My hometown is kind of small," he said. "A lot of people came to the football games and talked to you at the coffee shops. Everyone knew who you were. It's a traditional football town."

However, despite the tradition and passion for football in the South, the gridiron was not where Carter first made a name for himself in athletics. No, the 6-foot-2-inch, 265-pound defensive lineman grew up loving a sport played on ice.

"My first love in sports was hockey," said Carter, who spends the little free time he has fishing and trying to hone his skills on the Tech golf course. "It's a physical sport and fast paced. I started playing before I was 10 and stopped when I was around 17."

"When he was young we took him to a Dallas Stars game," Melinda said. "He instantly fell in love. He just had a natural love for hockey from an early age.

"Pilot Point is a huge football-oriented town. And it's a smaller school, and we were able to juggle football and ice hockey. Around the sixth grade, he started playing on a travel team and traveled across the United States and into Canada."

Carter not only played the sport of hockey, he was good at it. He used his talents on the ice to help lead his 18-and-under Dallas Stars Youth Association team to a national championship while he was in high school.

"He's probably the only kid in Texas that has a state championship ring (in football) and a national championship one in hockey," Melinda said. He even had an opportunity to pursue the sport professionally, which would have prevented him from donning the Louisiana Tech uniform the past five years.

"I got invited to the Western Hockey League (WHL) which is major junior hockey," said Carter, who played alongside of current Washington Capital star Chris Brown at one point during his youth career. "(NHL all-star) Sidney Crosby played (in the WHL) before he went to the NHL. My parents didn't want me to leave home when I was 15 years old though."

Melinda confirmed that parental instincts took over.

"My husband (Jim) and I talked about it," Melinda said. "It was a decision based on his education and what was best for him. We would have been sending him off for someone else to raise at a relatively young age. And semi-pro hockey makes you ineligible for college athletics (per NCAA rules). And there are so many more scholarships in football than in hockey."

It was hockey's loss, and LA Tech's gain.

During his five years in Ruston - he red-shirted as a true freshman - Carter has seen action in nine games with six of those coming last season. And although he hasn't played as many snaps as he probably wished, he still has some memories that he will take with him after his college days are over.

"It's been fun," he said. "We have had some good seasons and a couple of bad ones. We have been a Top 25 team and won a conference championship during my time. It's been a good ride, and I hope we have a good ride this year.

"I will remember my sack against Idaho for sure; the New Mexico State game, winning the conference championship in the rain. There are a bunch of good memories."

And some interesting ones as well.

Like in 2012, when the Bulldogs faced Johnny Manziel and the Texas A&M Aggies at Independence Stadium in Shreveport. No one that was in attendance that night and saw the Aggies 59-57 shootout victory over the Bulldogs will forget the contest.

However, it was even more relevant to Carter and his family.

"My whole family is A&M graduates," Carter said. "It was a fun game with a disappointing ending. The stadium was packed. I think (my family) was all wearing Tech gear at the game. Mom and Dad were for sure."

"It was a fun game," Melinda remembers. "Of course we were rooting for Louisiana Tech. It was the one game as an Aggie I had to step aside and say I'm Louisiana Tech today."

Carter has already completed his bachelor's degree in finance and will earn his MBA following the winter quarter. He is currently pursuing his certification in financial planning online at Boston University in hopes of one day starting his own business.

"I have gotten a lot out of (Louisiana Tech)," he said. "I have my degree already and am about to finish my MBA. There have been a lot of good things happen at Tech for me, and I am grateful for it."