COLE TRAIN
Lincoln-Way West all aboard with sophomore Crafton, a Louisville baseball commit, at quarterback
Even though it’s nice to be wanted, Lincoln-Way West’s Cole Crafton confirmed it also was stressful.
After impressing baseball coaches and scouts in camps and travel ball with his power, Crafton was recruited by major Division I programs. He said Louisville, Indiana and Missouri were among those making offers.
While he was in eighth grade. A year ago, Crafton verbally committed to Louisville long before he played his first inning on the high school level with the Warriors.
With that out of the way, however, his goal has been to maximize his athletic experience.
“It’s time to have fun now,” Crafton said. “It was stressful. I shouldn’t have been so stressed out my eighth grade year.”
Aside from being a sought-after baseball standout, Crafton worked his way from playing freshman football in the spring to starting varsity quarterback as a sophomore this fall.
He went through some growing pains in losses to Hersey, Oswego East and Bolingbrook, which entered the week with a combined 14-1 record. But he completed 18 of 28 passes for 333 yards and five touchdowns in victories over Bradley-Bourbonnais and Stagg.
Lincoln-Way West coach Luke Lokanc has seen enough progress out of his young quarterback to be convinced that, in the coming years, major football programs also will be coming after Crafton.
“I 100% believe that,” he said. “Just seeing his growth over the last five weeks — remember he played on the freshman team during the spring season. Now making that jump into the fall season in just a few months, that’s a huge, huge jump and you can see his growth week to week.
“I can’t wait to see how he is playing at the end of the year. He’s definitely going to be a radar quarterback with a lot of big schools.”
Crafton, who is 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds as a 15-year-old, said he’s leaving the door open to play football in college.
“I really love both sports right now,” he said. “And it would be great if I could still play both in college.”
Before he gets too far along in his thought process about college, he knows there are some immediate tasks at hand for the Warriors (2-3), who have a tough game Friday night at Lockport (5-0) in a SouthWest Suburban Conference crossover.
The Porters, whose schedule has not been affected by forfeits, have allowed only seven points in five games.
“We know what a great defense they have and it’s going to be a challenge,” Crafton said. “But I’m hoping we can get two or three touchdowns against them.”
One of Crafton’s favorite receivers has been Jason Harris, who opened the season as the starting quarterback while Crafton was being eased into the spot.
In the wins over Bradley and Stagg, Crafton hit Harris nine times for 248 yards and five TDs, including a 68-yard connection against Bradley and a 76-yard TD against Stagg.
“Since we were both getting reps at quarterback, we didn’t get a chance to work with each other early in the season,” Crafton said. “But now, things are working well. He finds a way to get open. And when he isn’t open, he finds a way to catch the ball.”
Sometimes, Lokanc has to catch himself when thinking about just how young Crafton really is.
“He accepts challenges no matter what sport or what level,” he said. “It’s easy to forget this, but he’s in my second hour driver’s ed class.
“He doesn’t have his driver’s license, yet. He’s a 15-year-old kid and he’s going against top-tier defenses. He’s fun to watch.”