The Carter Hosts are finding new ways to get back on their feet, as COVID-19 has affected their recruiting program this season.

The goal of the program is to give prospective players an up-close and personal look at what it would be like to play football for the Horned Frogs.

“The typical role of a Carter Host is to represent TCU and TCU football by offering hospitality by showing around players and their families on specific days like Junior Days and game days,” Mackenzie O’Connor, a junior member of Carter Hosts, wrote in an email. “A big part of this is being informed on what is going on at TCU, TCU football, in TCU athletics and college football in general.”

O’Connor also wrote Carter Hosts, “send out recruiting letters, update spreadsheets and help out at special events that TCU football might need help with.”

Due to COVID-19, the role of being a Carter Host has been put on hold because of new limitations that were put into place like social distancing. Even outside of game day, members of the program are not allowed to officially meet in person.

Nevertheless, the Carter Hosts are still doing what they can for TCU football amid the pandemic.

“We were able to make cards for recruits,” wrote Alette Cook, the new member educator of Carter Hosts, in an email. “In addition, some Carter Hosts have been able to help on the field during game days this season as card runners, so we are still able to actively participate with football in some ways.”

With most of their fall duties taken away, for the time being, the Carter Hosts still hold on to hope that their jobs can look closer to normal in the spring. Leading official visits as well as working the TCU spring game are typically things the program does during the early months of the year.

“I would love it if we could go back to normal and I could spend my Saturdays and Sundays doing what I enjoy,” O’Connor wrote.

Carter Host members are remaining positive and optimistic about the future by focusing on their favorite memories in the program.

Cook remembers the first time she worked a football game.

“I will never forget the first time I got to line the tunnel as the football team ran out,” Cook wrote. “Every game day after that, I got to see a potential Horned Frog experience this same feeling as mine for the first time.”

O’Connor wrote her favorite memory consisted of running a well-known recruit’s social media account with thousands of followers for the day. At the time, being in charge of his social media accounts was stressful, but it’s a memory she’ll never forget.

The Carter Hosts have been stripped of their usual roles and duties, but they are hopeful to return in the spring semester.