Do you know the guy who leads the Missouri Valley Conference in sacks? If you don’t already, you should: UNI standout, Karter Schult. Fun Fact: before the football season started, my friend Lucas told me, “You’ve got to write about this guy Karter Schult. He’s a small town kid from Tripoli, and he’s going to be great this year!”
Karter Schult had quite the high school career. Playing for Tripoli High School, according to his bio on unipanther.com, he was first team all-state by IowaPreps in 2011, he was picked three times to be on the first-team all-district and he was the National Guard Impact Player of the Year in 2011. In 2010 and 2011, Schult was second team all-conference two years in a row. Also, he was a first team all-conference selection in baseball in 2011.
Not only was he a great athlete, he was a great student. Schult was a member of the National Honor Society, an honor roll student, an academic all-district honoree in football three times and a two-time academic all-conference in baseball and basketball. Coming from a small high school, I asked him what it was like making the adjustment from playing for small-school Tripoli to playing in front of 15,000 people in the UNI-Dome.
“UNI has always been right in my backyard because I live only 30 miles away,” said Schult. “So I had been to a couple of games and knew how amazing it was. Running out of that garage door in front of a sold out crowd is like nothing I have ever experienced before, it is such a rush and it really never gets old.” then comparing it to “the world’s greatest roller coaster, that is the kind of rush I experience coming out to a packed UNI-Dome.”
The UNI D-Lineman is having a monster year. Leading the team with 10.5 sacks, he’s got twice as much as the next guy, Isaac Ales, who has 5.5 sacks. As good of a season as he has had, he attributes a lot of his success to his coaches.
“There are so many coaches on staff that have helped me get to where I am now,” said Schult, “and I can’t thank them enough. Bryce Paup, Jed Smith, Dominic Davis, Frank Romanazzi, Coach Farley, you name ‘em, and they have helped me reach the success I am experiencing now.”
Schult went on to talk about the ways they have helped out on and off the field.
“Whether it be improving technique for football, increasing strength/power/speed in the weight room, teaching me valuable life skills, inspiring me to become a leader and after all the tools and resources they had provided me,” Schult said, “it was up to me to utilize them as best as I could and I believe I have. After that, all it took was for me to get an opportunity to prove to them I was ready to help the team.”
Now, we all know this guy’s going to make the NFL and be the next JJ Watt.
But Schult has a backup plan in case things don’t work out in the end.
“I am majoring in exercise science and minoring in family studies,” said Schult. “My hopes and dreams after college range from becoming a strength/conditioning coach, chiropractor, owning my own gym or possibly coaching. I have a pretty wild mind when it comes to my future so I like to keep my options open. All I know is that I want to remain active and I love the exercise science major so it is perfect for me.”
From small town to the big time, Karter Schult has proved that through hard work, discipline and the support from those that care about you, you can follow your dreams. To see Karter look no further than this Saturday. Tune in to watch him and the rest of the Panthers as they take on Missouri State at 2pm in Springfield.