49ers Giving Local WR A Shot At Fulfilling NFL Promise To His Brother
SANTA CLARA (KPIX) – Fremont will be represented on and off the field when the 49ers host the Broncos at Levi's Stadium this weekend. Local receiver DeAndre Carter is making sure his pass list is square away for Saturday's game, but he'll forever wish he could leave just one more ticket at the box office.
"The first home preseason game is going to be pretty packed," said Carter who is the only player on the 49ers roster to graduate from a Bay Area high school. "This was my favorite team grow up, it's a dream come true."
Carter grew up the lone 49ers fan in a staunch Raiders household. His father Andre Carter is a season ticket holder at the Coliseum and is still trying to figure out how DeAndre ended up idolizing Jerry Rice instead of Tim Brown.
"My dad always told me that was my fault," Andre Carter said with a booming laugh. "It was something in the upbringing – I didn't do something right."
It might be his only misstep raising DeAndre just 15 minutes from where Levi's Stadium stands today. He was DeAndre's coach in youth football, but never dreamed his son would step onto an NFL field.
"He started playing when he was 10 years old and he was 70 pounds," he said of DeAndre's stature.
Small but athletically gifted, Carter began turning heads at Washington High School in Fremont. His only scholarship offer came from Sacramento State because of a family connection between coaches at both schools.
Carter took advantage of the opportunity and became one of the best receivers in Hornets' program history, scoring a school-record 35 touchdowns in four seasons in the capital city.
In his shadow was his younger half-brother Kaylan Carter, a promising cornerback out of Enochs High School in Modesto.
"He was my best friend growing up," said DeAndre. "He had potential in this game, and if he was still here he'd have his chance in the NFL as well."
The Carters never got the chance to watch Kaylan blossom into the football player many expected him to be. In August 2013, Kaylan suffered cardiac arrest at 17-years-old during a weightlifting session with his team.
His heart stopped for 30 minutes before paramedics could start it again, and he was eventually put into a medically induced coma with the hope his oxygen deprived organs could recover.
Kaylan was diagnosed with an enlarged heart – a disease that showed first showed symptoms at the worst possible time.
"Nobody knew," said DeAndre who was about to enter his junior season at Sac State when bad news started rolling in on a daily basis.
It became apparent to the Carter family that Kaylan was not going to survive the trauma from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and they made the difficult decision to remove him from life support. The anniversary of his death comes right before every football season.
"Nobody wants to outlive their child," said Andre Carter. "But it's made us all stronger in a way."
Before DeAndre said goodbye to Kaylan in the hospital, he made a promise.
"This NFL thing was our dream together," he said. "Even though he didn't get an opportunity to do it, I was going to do it for us. I was going to make sure I lived out our dream for the both of us."
The 49ers are the fourth team since 2015 to give the Carter a shot at his promise. He was signed and released by the Ravens out of college, then had a stint on the Raiders and Patriots practice squads.
Last year the NFL offers dried up, and Carter worked as substitute teacher in the Fremont school system before 49ers general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan offered him a chance to compete for a spot on the team's final 53-man roster.
Carter signed a two-year deal with team, nothing's guaranteed, but this NFL opportunity is much more meaningful than all the others.
"We all can be together now, and cheer for him together," said Andre Carter. "When he was gone, even though you can FaceTime, it's not the same."
DeAndre won't be leaving his brother a ticket for Saturday, but he's at piece with it because he's promised something much greater.
"I made a promise that I would make it in this league, and I don't feel like I've made it yet," he said of his dicey status on the 49ers roster. "I want to be one of the greatest players in his league, and I'm going to work until I get there."
