Mason Tharp has not had his name in the box score too often through the Texas Tech football team's first four games of the season, and that's OK with him.

To the 6-foot-9, 270-pound senior tight end, his role with the Red Raiders is much more than catching passes and scoring touchdowns. If anything, it was Tharp's leadership, willingness to teach and mold the new tight ends, that has elevated the position group as a whole.

"He's the one that really pushes me," Johncarlos Miller II said before the start of the regular season. "I know I have to get better if I want to get on the field."

While Miller — who is the first Tech tight end to catch a receiving touchdown in three straight games since Mikey Peters in 2002 — and Jalin Conyers have been the statistical leaders for the position group, Tharp has been the steady presence for the Red Raiders, both on the field with his ability to block in the running game and his even demeanor with opportunities going to his talented teammates as well.

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"Through spring ball and through summer," Texas Tech offensive coordinator Zach Kittley said, "he was the guy that really showed up every day. Did an unbelievable job of being a leader."

Kittley did say he feels bad that Tharp is the lone tight end of the big three that hasn't found the end zone yet. Tharp knows his opportunities will still be coming.

"It's always fun seeing people in your room be able to score, especially those guys," Tharp said of Miller and Conyers. "You see all the work they put in and how hard they worked over the summer and in fall camp."

Tharp said there's no frustration in not getting individual stats. He's more concerned about doing his job, which involves being a lead blocker in Texas Tech's run game.

First recruited to Texas Tech by the previous regime, Matt Wells and his staff, Tharp has stuck it out all four years with the Red Raiders while many of his fellow recruiting class members have departed elsewhere. Why Tharp has stuck around this long, and accepted his role with the team, boils down to the city and people of Lubbock.

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"Whenever I was looking at the whole recruiting process, my parents always told me, people that have played college athletics, college coaches, they're not always permanent," Tharp said, "especially if you're not winning. They're going to replace and get a new staff in.

"But they always said you have to like that town that you're going to school in more than the coaching staff. ... Ultimately, I just came down to I love the town more than anything and I could come to school here even if I wasn't playing football."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Mason Tharp helping guide Texas Tech football tight ends