Male Athlete of the Year: Crete-Monee’s Laquon Treadwell

Laquon Treadwell’s plan was to take some time off after football last fall. The Crete-Monee senior was going to do a little training before heading to a national all-star game in January. Then he figured on rejoining the Warriors’ basketball team for the final months of the season. But Treadwell’s motor runs a little faster than that. It didn’t take him long to realize he wanted to be back in the game again. “I took about a day and a half off,” Treadwell said. “I have to be active.” So he jumped right back into basketball while also nearing the finish line for college football recruiting. The nation’s top receiver and No. 5 recruit overall according to Rivals.com picked Ole Miss in mid-January. Had his interest lay elsewhere, Treadwell’s future may have been on the basketball court. But there’s no wondering about where Treadwell ranks among Chicago-area prep athletes. An elite performer in one sport with Division I talent in another, he is the Sun-Times Male Athlete of the Year. Crete-Monee had a fairy-tale football season, capping a 14-0 run with the program’s first state title. Treadwell did a little bit of of everything for the Warriors, capping a career that saw him play everything from quarterback to defensive end. In 2012, he was Crete’s go-to receiver (75 catches, 1,339 yards, 15 touchdowns), a dangerous runner (28 carries, 164 yards, six TDs), a lockdown defensive back and the kicker (44 PAT kicks). Oh, and he also completed one of two passes for 61 yards. But perhaps most important to the Warriors’ title run was what Treadwell did that didn’t show up on the stat sheet. When the best player in program history is also the hardest-working guy on the team — and someone setting a good example on and off the field — other players tend to notice. “It was maturation process for him, from what you saw from sophomore through senior year,” said Jerry Verde, Crete’s head coach last year who now is at Marian Catholic. “He grew up a lot, not only physically but mentally. His work ethic went with that.” Crete went to the state quarterfinals in Treadwell’s freshman and sophomore years. The Warriors expected another long playoff run in 2011, but instead were knocked out with a 51-36 second-round loss at Peoria Richwoods. That wound up being the last defeat of Treadwell’s prep football career. In the weight room. in practice and in games, he set a goal of not ever failing to give maximum effort. “I just compete and work out — running, whatever,” Treadwell said. “Whatever [Verde] wanted me to do, I wanted to do my best.” And he wanted the same from his teammates. Though his college experience has barely begun, he’s already noticed a different vibe. “In college, guys go their own way,” Treadwell said. “In high school, everybody was with each other [often]. That was the best part about it. We went out to eat, [would] play ball, go to the pool. … I think why we went a long way, we had trust in each other for the most part.” The other Warriors trusted Treadwell to go full-bore even when he might have had one foot out the door. “He could have coasted his senior year,” Verde said, “could have made sure he didn’t get injured. Instead he pushed harder and harder.” And he didn’t take it easy after switching sports. Treadwell averaged 13.0 points and 8.6 rebounds for Crete’s basketball team, showing the kind of raw talent that might have made him a star on the court. Basketball recruiting analyst Joe Henricksen remembers seeing Treadwell play hoops as a sophomore. “I thought, ‘This kid is really intriguing and has a chance to be a Division I basketball player,” Henricksen said. “He was so intriguing because of his body, his athleticism and his motor. … “You do wonder, if he was 12 months [a year], 24/7 basketball, how good a player he would have been.”