Although he was recruited by major college programs, he chose to go to Division II Johnson C. Smith University because of his grades.
[1] As a junior, he was a starter at left guard, on an offensive line that also had tight end Ben Coates.
As a senior, he was the starter at left tackle and received All-CIAA honors, while helping sophomore running back Rob Clodfelter lead the conference, and finish seventh in Division II with 137.9 rushing yards per game, plus lead the conference with a total of 14 rushing touchdowns.
Terry was selected in the tenth round (275th overall) of the 1992 NFL draft by the Dallas Cowboys, with the intention of switching him to offensive guard.
After being released and re-signed on different occasions,[7][8] he was traded to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in exchange for center Mike Kiselak on April 4, 1996.