SALT LAKE CITY — There's nothing a defender loves more than the intimidation factor on the field.

Get a defender one-on-one against an offensive skills player and that defender will always believe he has the upper hand. It's no different for senior Tevin Carter, who's loving his role as strong safety behind an already "nasty" front seven.

It's that moment where the offensive player breaks through the linebackers and it's just him one-on-one. But at 6-foot-1 and 220 pounds, Carter looks more like an NFL safety than his counterparts. It's intimidation.

"I love that, to be honest with you," Carter says as a giant smile encompasses his face, as if he's already picked out his prey and is letting him pretend he has a chance. "It's intimidation. … Do I like my size? I love my size.

"I love to hit. That's my thing, I love contact," he adds.

He's a safety who lets his presence be known with his big hits that seemingly breach every aspect of the opponent's core. If Carter hasn't left a mark, it's only because he's coming back for an even bigger hit the next time. And now with a clean bill of health, Carter says he's even more confident and ready for a full season of play.

"I think I'm playing quicker because I'm more comfortable, so my reaction is better this year," he says. "I'm reacting faster and playing better, so that's the big thing for me."

Carter, though, admits he has at least one weakness: open-field tackling.

"I'm focused on tackling, honestly. I feel like I lack that," he says, speaking about his main focus coming into the Michigan game in September. "Yes, I make big hits and get picks, but open-field tackling is key, and I feel like I need to work on that a lot more."

"He's a real physical guy," safeties coach Morgan Scalley says about Carter. "I think he's being humble when he says that stuff. He's a fine tackler. If we could get his man coverage skills to match up to his tackling ability, then we'll be doing something right."

Forced to sit out much of last season as a result of an injury, Carter developed a stronger understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the defense as a whole.

"I learned a lot being able to watch and seeing everything. It taught me a lot," he says. "Now I can look now and know the linebacker's responsibility, I know D-line responsibility and where they're supposed to be and everything. So I'm in better shape this year in knowing things."

Dreams of the NFL

Carter's ability to fine-tune his game is ultimately the step necessary to obtain his lifelong dream of making it to the NFL and having an impact at the highest level of competition. Although he feels he has what it takes to make it in the NFL, he said he needed another season to prove to himself and future NFL teams that he's ready for the next level.

"I was really nervous because I'm not ready," Carter says, speaking about the fear of having to enter the NFL supplemental draft if his medical hardship had not been approved by the NCAA. "I'm not ready to leave yet. I've only got three games underneath my belt last year, and I don't feel like that made me ready. I was coming off a surgery and I didn't feel like I was ready for that."

Carter, though, says he's sees himself walking in the shoes of former Ute Robert Johnson, who spent three years with the Tennessee Titans before being waived in 2013.

"I went to the same junior college, the same neighborhood, same college, so I'm living in his footsteps. I'm not doing exactly what he did, but I'm living in his footsteps. At the end of the day I've got something to live up to," Carter says. "We talk all the time. Every time he's around we talk. We're from the same place, so we know each other well. I've seen him back home before I got here and I see him around here all the time, so it's a good relationship."

Carter, who grew up in the rough neighborhoods of South Central Los Angeles, said one of his biggest motivators to making it to the NFL is to get his mother out of the neighborhood she lives in now.

"Most of the time I'm just trying to get my mom out here. If she came out here I'd be better at going home," Carter says. "That's the first thing I've always said. Before I get myself anything, I'm going to get my mom out of there. That's the first thing I'm ever going to do."

A shot at the NFL would also be the realization of a lifelong pursuit. Some see football as just a game — a violent sport meant to entertain — but for Carter it's his everything and ultimately his saving grace.

"I've been playing football since I was 6 years old," he says. "I don't know what I'd do without it. It helped keep me off the streets and helped me stay in school. I knew I had to have good grades in order to play, so that was kind of my guideline throughout my whole life."

Friendly competition with the linebackers

Since joining the University of Utah, Carter says he's developed a great relationship with linebacker Gionni Paul. "That's my best friend and I can't lie about that. I'm around him all day, 24/7."

Carter says the two playfully argue about everything, whether about football, video games, who can lift more in the weight room, anything (the two even argued in the middle of my interview with Carter).

"Gionni Paul, we're always in competition," he says. "If I get a big hit he comes to me and is like, 'my turn now; I'm going to get one better than you.' So it's always a competition.

"We argue all day, that's what we do: video games, when we eat, anything we do we argue, so it's always competition with him on the field," he adds. "We can argue to the end because I'm never going to tell him he's won — never, never do that."

Switching to the defense

Carter spent most of his football life playing on the offensive side of the ball as a receiver. Even California recruited Carter out of high school as a receiver. But in 2013, while attending L.A. Southwest College, Carter's coach switched him to safety, a switch Carter says he loves.

"I love to hit. That's my thing, I love contact," he says. "On offense, you don't get that much contact."

Carter admits, though, having played offense most of his life has given him an advantage on the field, particularly as a receiver and knowing how they operate.

"It's still new to me a little bit, but me being offensive minded, when the ball is in the air, it helps," he says. "It helps give me better instincts."

Whether it's offense, defense or special team, Carter says he's just happy to be playing football.

"And at the end of the day, Utah called me to play safety," he says. "I feel comfortable. I feel like they trust me. I'm just out here playing football. It doesn't matter if I'm playing defensive line, linebacker, punter. It doesn't matter because I'm playing football."

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