Karstetter makes most of genes

Maybe it’s genetics, maybe it’s timing and maybe it’s that whole community- raising-a-child thing. Maybe it’s because Jared Karstetter is good.

Whatever the case, there’s no denying that he has been blessed in his athletic career at Ferris.

How many other Greater Spokane League athletes can say they have played on a state championship basketball team and been recruited for football at Washington State? Mark Rypien (Shadle Park) comes to mind, putting Karstetter in select company.

Last winter the 6-foot-4 Saxon was named GSL MVP as leading scorer for a team that went 29-0 and captured the school’s second state basketball title. A couple of weeks ago Karstetter committed to play wide receiver for the Cougars.

“It’s been incredible,” said Karstetter about all that has transpired during his career. “When I was younger it was never like I was a super-big, can’t-miss athlete. I kind of grew up, developed and everything worked out pretty good.”

Karstetter’s lineage may well have been a harbinger of success. His dad, Jerry, was a league rebounding leader at Central Valley three decades ago, and aunts and uncles on both sides of the family also starred in basketball and football in high school or college.

He’s a second cousin to CV grads Courtney and Kristin Hepton, among the finest female basketball players in GSL history.

But Jerry Karstetter said it is more than genetics that made his son the player he is. The timing was also right. He recited a litany of names – those who started Grid Kids football, who grew AAU basketball, Jared’s coaches from first grade through high school and convergence of an especially talented group of athletic peers – that all influenced Jared’s development.

Jared had talent in his own right.

“You never think your kid’s going to be something,” Jerry said. “But I knew he could run. And he was God-given with inner fire.”

That, he said, is common in this Saxons senior group and why they win.

The natural inclination, given all the basketball on the Karstetter/Hepton side of the family, is to think Jared would have focused on that. But basketball skills good enough to attract college interest only helped develop him for football, the sport he loved. His height, jumping ability and soft hands made him difficult to defend.

He started at wide receiver as a sophomore, scoring a touchdown in his first game. By the end of the basketball season, he was first off the bench for the state-qualifying Saxons.

Last year he caught 54 passes for 765 yards, the third-best season by a GSL player in both categories. “I was kind of coming in under the radar and wasn’t super-schemed for,” he said. “I had a little more attention focused on me this year.”

He backed his junior football season with an award-winning basketball effort and lasting memory of the state title.

“I was actually surprised by the MVP honor,” he said. “Having Dee (Casto) out there and Shawn (Stockton) at point guard helped quite a bit. We were real balanced and I was able to roam around more than normal.”

Jared’s pass-catching numbers this fall were 40 for 581 yards. His career GSL totals are 104 catches, second most in league history, for 1,464 yards, the fourth-best effort overall. Again, he gives credit to a teammate, quarterback Jeff Minnerly, for getting him the ball.

Counting non-league and playoff games, Jared has 137 catches for 1,881 yards and 22 touchdowns despite some drops last week against Mead in the State 4A first round.

“But he had two interceptions, so I kind of gave him a pass on the drops,” said Ferris football coach Jim Sharkey.

Sharkey said that Jared’s size is complemented by deceptive speed.

“He’s faster than what people think. He can run in the 4.5 (for 40 yards) range,” Sharkey said. “And he has very naturally soft hands.”

Sharkey said that WSU coaches told him that they liked having a multisport athlete (Jared runs hurdles in track and lettered as a freshman) who can stretch the field outside.

“I remember growing up watching the Rubber Chicken (basketball spirit game with Lewis and Clark) when I was younger and hoping I could play in that,” Jared said.

It was a modest aspiration in a career that has gone far beyond Jared Karstetter’s wildest dreams.