This article is part of a series previewing the Razorbacks’ 2020 football roster.

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Of Arkansas's seven 2019 defensive line signees, former 3-star Taurean Carter was the only one who didn't see any game action in his first season, though all three defensive tackles kept their redshirts.

Coming out of high school undersized at 6-foot-3, 263 pounds, Carter was unlikely to get playing time. He was one of three true freshmen who didn't play at all, joining offensive lineman Dylan Rathcke and wide receiver Shamar Nash.

Now, with a season under his belt and winter conditioning in the books as well, the Texas native has caught up to his peers and he's weighing in at 292.

On top of playing football, Carter is also on Arkansas's track and field roster as a thrower but he didn't get a chance to compete in 2019.

Without getting any snaps in 2019, a lot of fans have probably forgotten or overlooked Taurean Carter, but he could be a dark horse candidate for playing time in 2020. He's got the size now to play and compete, although I'm sure they'll continue to bulk him up, and there's a lot of question marks still about formation, depth and rotations on the interior of the defensive line.

The Razorbacks return fifth year senior Jonathan Marshall and they added Clemson transfer Xavier Kelly, both of whom have just one more shot to make a name for themselves on the big stage. Besides Marshall and Kelly, Carter will mostly have to compete with redshirt sophomore Isaiah Nichols who saw his usage go up in a major way in 2019 and his two classmates, Marcus Miller and Enoch Jackson Jr. New signee Andy Boykin will also factor in and he's already SEC size.

Defensive line snaps will be harder to come by if Barry Odom goes to a three-man front often with heavy defensive back presence like he's presumed to in his first year on the Hill.

A four-year varsity letter winner at Mansfield Legacy, Taurean Carter picked up his first Division-I offer from Chad Morris when he was at SMU in May of 2017 but didn't get an offer from him at Arkansas until a full year later.

Carter took visits to Texas Tech, Houston, OSU and more, but his final decision came down to Arkansas, Michigan State and Wisconsin. Carter never ended up visiting either the Spartans or the Badgers, having silently committed to the Hogs as they quickly filled their class with defensive linemen in the summer of 2018. He held off making his public announcement until October of his senior year to celebrate his father's birthday.

Carter joined his defensive tackle teammate Enoch Jackson Jr. in the class, then helped welcome another teammate, Jalen Catalon, into the class three months later.

MORE: Razorback Roster Rundown