Kyle James Carta-Samuels (born July 12, 1995) is an American former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

quarterback. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at Washington and

Colorado State Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

. He also played for the Dresden Monarchs of the German Football League (GFL).

Early life

Carta-Samuels was born in Saratoga, California, and attended

Bellarmine College Preparatory Bellarmine College Preparatory is an all-male, Jesuit, private secondary school located in San Jose, California. Founded in 1851, it is the oldest secondary school in California and the second-oldest west of the Mississippi River. In 2020, Niche ...

. As a junior, he completed 70-of-129 passes for 1,230 yards and 12 scores while rushing for 632 yards and 12 touchdowns. He led the team to an 11–2 record, making the championship of the playoffs. As a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

, he brought them to 8–4 and to the semifinals in the CIF Central Coast Section Open Division playoffs. Carta-Samuels was named All-West Catholic Athletic League on their first-team roster following the season, and was invited to the

U.S. Army All-American Bowl The All-American Bowl is a high school football all-star game, held annually at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Typically played in January, the All-American Bowl is played between all-star teams representing the eastern and western United S ...

. He was a four-star recruit and was the number 23 quarterback prospect in the country according to Scout.com.

College career

University of Washington

Carta-Samuels announced his commitment to University of Washington in January 2014 after initially committing to Vanderbilt. He spent his

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

year as a redshirt, and did not see any playing time. He was named the team's 2014 scout squad MVP. He lost a training camp battle for the starting quarterback position, but made his college debut against

Boise State Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It became a publ ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

. He played in a total of eight games in 2015, completing 10-of-24 passes for 124 yards. As a

sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...

in 2016, Carta-Samuels completed 9-of-13 pass attempts for 104 yards and three touchdowns. He appeared in nine total games, and also made a brief appearance in the 2017 Peach Bowl, in a 7–24 loss against Alabama. Against number 7 ranked

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

, Carta-Samuels led a late scoring drive that contributed to Washington's victory. He appeared in eight games as a junior, throwing ten passes, with eight being completed, for 82 yards. He also caught a pass in their win over the Oregon State Beavers. He announced intentions to transfer in December 2017.

Colorado State University

Though he initially transferred to UCLA, Carta-Samuels changed to

Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

(CSU) in March 2018. He beat out Justice McCoy and Colin Hill in training camp to earn the CSU starting quarterback position. In the season opener against Hawaii, Carta-Samuels passed for 537 yards and five touchdowns in the loss. The 537 passing yards set the all-time school record, as no other player had even thrown for 500 yards previously. Against Colorado, he started the game by completing 7-of-8 pass attempts. A week later, in a win over Arkansas, Carta-Samuels completed 32-of-47 pass attempts, going for 389 yards and two touchdowns. He was benched by coach

Mike Bobo Robert Michael Bobo (born April 9, 1974) is an American college football coach who is currently the Offensive Analyst for the Georgia Bulldogs. He was recently the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Auburn Tigers. He was the hea ...

in a loss versus FCS

Illinois State Illinois State University (ISU) is a Public university, public university in Normal, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University, it is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching and is reco ...

, but regained the starting position for their game against San Jose State. He threw four touchdowns versus the San Jose State Spartans, marking the 14th time a CSU quarterback threw four in one game. He was again benched in favor of Colin Hill following the eighth game of the season. After Hill was injured in the season finale, Carta-Samuels came in and went 6-for-9 passing, with one touchdown in his final career collegiate game. Carta-Samuels finished the 2018 season going 183-for-298 on pass attempts, throwing for 2,261 yards and 19 touchdowns. He also threw 9 interceptions. His longest completion of the season was on a 69-yard pass to

Preston Williams Preston Terrance Williams (born March 27, 1997) is an American football wide receiver for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football at Colorado State Rams football, Colorado State. He has played in ...

against Hawaii in week one.

Professional career

BC Lions

After going unselected in the

2019 NFL draft The 2019 NFL Draft was the 84th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2019 NFL season. The draft was held on April 25–27 in Nashville, Tennessee. The first round was held on April 2 ...

, Carta-Samuels was signed by the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League (NFL) in November 2019. The CFL cancelled its 2020 season, and Carta-Samuels was released.

Dresden Monarchs

In April 2021, Carta-Samuels was signed by the Dresden Monarchs of the German Football League (GFL). He led the team to their first ever league championship, being named

German Bowl XLII The 42nd annual German Bowl was the championship of the 2021 German Football League, originally planned for the 2020 German Football League which was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Dresden Monarchs beat the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns ...

MVP in a 28–19 victory over the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns.

Personal life

His brother Austyn Carta-Samuels played quarterback for Vanderbilt and Wyoming. In the

2022 German Football League The 2022 German Football League season is the 43rd edition of the top-level American football competition in Germany. The regular season started on 21 May and ended on 28 August 2022, followed by the play-offs. The season culminated in the German ...

Austin replaced his brother as the Dresden Monarchs starting Quarterback, but got injured in the first match of the season and was subsequently replaced. His father, James Samuels, played at

Utah State Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

, as did his uncle. His sister Gabby played volleyball for Colorado.

References

External links

Colorado State Rams bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carta-Samuels, K. J. Living people Players of American football from Santa Clara County, California Washington Huskies football players American football quarterbacks Colorado State Rams football players BC Lions players German Football League players American expatriate players of American football American expatriate sportspeople in Germany 1995 births People from Saratoga, California Bellarmine College Preparatory alumni Canadian football quarterbacks Players of Canadian football from California Elite 11 participants