Donte Foster (born November 10, 1990) is a former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

. He played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

at Seminole State College and

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. After going undrafted in the

2014 NFL draft The 2014 NFL draft was the 79th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players to the league. The draft, officially the "Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall in New Y ...

, Foster signed with the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

Early life

Foster attended Guthrie High School in

Guthrie, Oklahoma Guthrie is a city and county seat in Logan County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City Metroplex. Its population was 10,191 at the 2010 census, a 2.7% increase from 9,925 in the 2000 census. First known as a railroad st ...

, where he was a three-sport star in football, basketball and track. As a junior, Foster, who played for head coach Rafe Watkins, helped lead the Bluejays to a Class 5A state title. As a senior, he was named All-Oklahoma after leading Class 5A in receiving yards and earned all-star honors from the OFBCA (Oklahoma Football Coaches Association) and CoachesAid.com, a website and media outlet dedicated to high school sports coverage since 1999. He was also a quarterfinalist for Oklahoma's Mr. Football honor during his senior season. During his junior and senior seasons at Guthrie, Foster amassed 80 catches for 1,408 yards with 25

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

catches and also totaled 163 yards on the ground for three more scores. On the hardwood, Foster began his career with a bang when he was named Oklahoma's Newcomer of the Year as a freshman. Under the leadership of head coach Pete Papahronis, he then claimed All-Oklahoma honors three times (sophomore, junior and senior) and was named Class 5A Player of the Year as a junior. He was also voted Most Valuable Player of the state playoffs as a senior, where he averaged a

double-double In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the ter ...

. His Guthrie Bluejays won the Class 5A state title during both his junior and senior campaigns. In addition, Foster had the No. 1 play on

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

’s

SportsCenter ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is an American television sports news broadcasting show broadcast by ESPN. Originally anchored by Chris Berman, George Grande, Greg Gumbel, Lee Leonard, Bob Ley, Sal Marchiano and Lou Palmer, it premiered on Septem ...

when he made a shot with his back to the basket during a high school basketball game. Foster also excelled in

track & field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and ...

at Guthrie, where he earned All-Oklahoma honors all three years. He was Class 5A's three-time (sophomore, junior and senior) state champion in the

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

, where he cleared a career-best of 2.13 meters (7 feet, 0 inches) during his senior season. He also had personal-bests of 22.69 seconds in the

200-meter dash The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

and 6.49 meters (21 feet, 3 inches) in the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

at the 2009 Regional Meet.

College career

Seminole State College

Foster played

at Seminole State College before transferring to Ohio. At Seminole State, Foster averaged 12.8

points A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

, 7.8

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

, 2.1 steals and 1.8 assists per contest from his

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

position. He led the Trojans to the finals of the

NJCAA The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) is the governing association of community college, State college (disambiguation), state college, and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 sepa ...

(National Junior College Athletic Association) Region 2 Tournament, earning All-Tournament honors in the process.

Ohio University

Foster played in 51 games during his four-year career at

. He finished with 2,170 receiving yards and 21

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

on 167 receptions. After redshirting in 2009, Foster finished his 2010 season with nine catches for 151 yards and one score. In 2011, Foster was a fixture on Ohio's receiving corps during the season, playing in 13 games. He hauled in 30 passes for 352 yards and five

. In 2012, Foster finished the year with single season career highs of 659 yards receiving and eight

. His eight receiving touchdowns are tied for fifth all-time with former Bobcat wide receiver Todd Snyder, while his 59 receptions ranks fifth all-time in single season history. In his final year at Ohio, Foster started in all 13 games, earning All-MAC Second-team honors. He became just the second

in school history to surpass 1,000 yards receiving in a single season as he finished the year with 1,018 yards. He set a Beef O'Brady's Bowl record with 160 yards receiving en route to earning Most Valuable Player honors.

Professional career

Minnesota Vikings

Foster signed with the

as a

following going undrafted in the

. On May 5, 2014, Foster was signed by the Vikings. On August 30, 2014, he was waived. On August 31, 2014, he was re-signed to the practice squad. On September 29, 2014, Foster was released. On October 7, 2014, he was re-signed to the practice squad. On December 30, 2014, Foster was signed a future contract. On September 5, 2015, Foster was waived. On September 29, 2015, he was signed to the Vikings' practice squad. On October 27, 2015, he was waived again.

San Diego Chargers

On November 18, 2015, Foster was signed to the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...

' practice squad. On December 1, 2015, he was released from practice squad.

Dallas Cowboys

On December 30, 2015, the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

signed Foster to their practice squad. He was waived on March 2, 2016.

New York Giants

On May 9, 2016, Foster signed with the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

. On July 29, 2016, he was waived by the Giants.

Tennessee Titans

On August 17, 2016, Foster was signed by the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. They play the ...

. On August 28, 2016, he was released by the Titans.

Personal life

While at

Ohio University Ohio University (Ohio or OU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Athens, Ohio, United States. The university was first conceived in the 1787 contract between the United States Department of the Treasury#Re ...

, Foster graduated with a degree in sociology-criminology.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Donte 1990 births Living people People from Guthrie, Oklahoma Players of American football from Oklahoma American football wide receivers Ohio Bobcats football players Minnesota Vikings players San Diego Chargers players Dallas Cowboys players New York Giants players Tennessee Titans players Seminole State Trojans men's basketball players