Some of the fondest memories has had at came from the football stands.Â
The Bombers senior, who is a do-it-all talent at wide receiver, cornerback and in the return game, remembers spending days on end watching his older brother, pilot the Bombers' offense on the gridiron. All the while, Carter Foote waited with an eager patience, dreaming of one day doing the same.Â
Now, after watching Tyler Foote take his final prep snap in 2017, Carter Foote's own high school career quickly is coming to an end, as is the opportunity to make his childhood aspirations a reality.Â
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"It was just a moment of realization that now is my chance," Carter Foote said of when he finally stepped onto the field after years of watching from the stands. "When I was a freshman, it didn't really hit me I was really on the field. But as a sophomore, junior and now being a senior, I've just realized where I am. I only have four years to play high school football, and I really gotta make it count."
Through three years at John Burroughs, the latter two of which he has seen regular playing time, Carter Foote has found himself at nearly every skill position offensively as well as defensive back and kickoff return specialist. The multi-tooled athlete has totaled 326 career yards (248 receiving and 77 rushing), two touchdowns, 25 tackles and nine kickoff returns for 208 yards and one touchdown (23.1 yards per return).Â
Although those career statistics don't jump off the page, they do paint a picture of consistency and potential — a pair of traits that define Carter Foote, the No. 30 recruit on the Post-Dispatch Super 30 countdown of the area’s top senior college football prospects.
"We made it a normalcy in our family that this is what we do, we work hard and we obtain our goals," said Tyler Foote, who joined the Bombers' coaching staff as an assistant last season. "That's just what he does. He works hard; he gets in, and he gets out. He's just Carter."
Carter Foote's football journey started at the age of 8, when the idea of playing the same sport as his older brother became a reality. The younger sibling debuted with youth teams like the Chesterfield Bears and North County Cowboys, all the while continuing to watch his role model develop into a rising quarterback prospect with John Burroughs.
"He was just an electric player to watch," Carter Foote said of his older brother. "That was honestly some of the best times I've had in my life."
But as graduation sent Tyler Foote to the University of South Dakota, Carter Foote ventured into middle and high school with his sights set on writing his own success story.
The 6-foot-2, 180-pound athlete, who started his career at John Burroughs as a tight end and defensive end but filled out his frame and converted into wide receiver and defensive back, has done just that with one chapter still to go.
"I feel like I've worked on my craft a lot," Carter Foote said. "Now that I know where I'm going in college and what position that I'll be playing, I think I should be able to be more explosive in the receiving game and in the backfield."
As Carter Foote embarks on his senior season, there is one team goal above the rest: a district championship. The Bombers, who own nine state championships in program history, haven't won a district championship since 2015, when a roster featuring sophomore quarterback Tyler Foote won its final eight games to capture Missouri's Class 3 crown.Â
The Bombers are coming off a 5-6 season that finished a Class 3 district semifinal.
On a personal level, Foote verbally committed in June to Fordham University, an NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision program located in the Bronx, N.Y.
Foote — who also received offers from Ball State, Ohio University, Arkansas State, Southeast Missouri State and Northern Illinois University — has outlined a few statistical markers he'd like to reach while the Bombers pursue a district championship: two interceptions, five receiving touchdowns and 500 all-purpose yards. But more than any of those personal milestones, Foote hopes to create new memories that extend from the stands to the spotlight.Â
"I think last year, his junior year, he really came into understanding what he's capable of doing on the field. He realized that he is incredibly athletic, incredibly fast, he has great hands and everything," Tyler Foote said. "This year, I just want him to show it. I want him to own it. I believe that he has the ability to change the narrative of the field whenever he steps on that field, and I want to see dominance he has.
"He's gonna shock everybody by what he's really capable of."
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