Chicago’s Finest: WR Laquon Treadwell ‘just driven’ for NFL dream

Laquon Treadwell’s cleats had holes in them. His mother, Tami, said they were ‘‘torn up’’ and ‘‘in pieces, almost.’’

Treadwell was distraught. It was the night before one of the biggest games an 11-year-old can play in the south suburbs: the Will-Cook Youth Football peewee championship.

‘‘It was the Super Bowl,’’ his mother said.

And an emergency. Treadwell pleaded for new cleats.

‘‘He was like, ‘If I don’t get new cleats, I’m not going to be able to play,’ ’’ his mother recalled. ‘‘I was like, ‘Quon, I don’t have the money.’ ’’

Cleats or no cleats, Treadwell wasn’t going to miss the game. But when his mother arrived for it, she wasn’t sure what she was seeing when he took the field.

‘‘What shoes does this boy have on?’’ she recalled thinking.

Treadwell had fixed his cleats by taping them back together. And in those taped cleats, he broke though a gang of tacklers and scored the winning touchdown for the University Park Lions against the Hazel Crest Mustangs.

‘‘He found a way to fix his shoes, and he didn’t act like it bothered him,’’ his mother said. ‘‘He was just like, ‘I’m going to find a way.’ It was some type of tape.’’

It’s an emotional story — his mother’s voice trembles when she shares it — at an emotional time. Treadwell, a Crete-Monee graduate, is the best football player the Chicago area has produced in years. After starring at Mississippi, he is expected to be the first receiver selected in the first round of the NFL draft Thursday.

That the draft is in Chicago only makes it more special.

‘‘Absolutely, I’ve thought about it,’’ Treadwell said. ‘‘Every day.’’

* * *

Treadwell’s breakout game at Crete-Monee came in the first round of the state playoffs against Normal West in October 2010.

Treadwell, a sophomore, made 10 catches for 186 yards in the Warriors’ 35-28 victory. There were plenty of quick hitches, said Crete-Monee coach John Konecki, who was the offensive coordinator at the time.

‘‘Meanwhile, he was playing out of this world at defensive end,’’ Konecki said.

Afterward, something unexpected happened.

‘‘The official came to our bus after the game, and he goes, ‘Hey, where is No. 6 at?’ ’’ Konecki said. ‘‘He gave Laquon his lunch. He said, ‘Here, you need this, kid. You worked harder than I did today.’ Because he was all over the field.’’

Treadwell received more than 20 scholarship offers from colleges across the country, but his upbringing kept him grounded, those close to him say.

Treadwell is the fourth of six children his mother raised in a single-parent household. She explained financial difficulties resulted in 15 moves in 11 years, but University Park remained home.

Less expensive areas were considered, but Treadwell’s mother was committed to providing structure and stability. It was important to her that he remain in the same school district and maintain friendships.

‘‘I tried not to disrupt everything,’’ she said.

Family friend Torian Moore said Treadwell’s mother allowed coaches to coach and teachers to teach her son.

‘‘You know how the new age is, where everybody thinks their son is a superstar?’’ Moore said. ‘‘That was never, ever the case with Tami. She always allowed the coaches to coach her son. She never allowed him to make excuses.’’

Instead, Treadwell just went to work, his high school coaches said.

‘‘The biggest compliment I can give him as a high school player is that he played his best game the last game,’’ said former Crete-Monee coach Jerry Verde, who is now at Evergreen Park. ‘‘A lot of kids who are highly recruited and highly touted don’t get better. They kind of top out and cruise from there. He continued to get better, and that’s a testament to his work ethic and the young man that he is.’’

Treadwell’s final high school game resulted in Crete-Monee’s first state title, a 33-26 victory against Cary-Grove in Class 6A. In that game, Treadwell had a 69-yard touchdown run and a 57-yard touchdown catch and made 12 tackles and a crucial interception.

‘‘He’s just driven,’’ Konecki said. ‘‘You don’t see that in kids today, whether it’s in the academic arena or athletic arena.’’

Treadwell’s coaches remember a player who was devastated by a playoff loss to Peoria Richwoods in his junior season and who immediately made a pledge with his teammates to work toward a different outcome as seniors.

The Warriors ran into Peoria Richwoods again the next postseason, and Treadwell sparked a 35-32 comeback victory with a 53-yard pick-six and a one-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

Treadwell’s coaches also see a player who came back during college breaks, rode his bicycle around and tried to round up younger kids to practice.

‘‘He’s going to do very well [in the NFL],’’ Verde said. ‘‘There is nothing that a team that picks him is going to have to worry about as far as his character.’’

* * *

Moore’s phone went off 3 a.m. with a text message from Treadwell. Treadwell was less than 48 hours removed from surgery, which he had almost immediately after suffering a broken left fibula and dislocated left ankle during a game against Auburn on Nov. 1, 2014.

‘‘He said, ‘The pain is unbearable,’ ’’ said Moore, who attended the Auburn game and accompanied Treadwell to the hospital. ‘‘I responded: ‘Where is your pain medication? They need to give you some pain meds.’ I thought maybe the prescription didn’t get filled.

‘‘Laquon said: ‘No, I have my prescription. I’m not going to take any of the pills. I want to feel all the pain, every ounce of it, so I never, ever forget what this pain is like. I’m going to use this as my motivation.’ ’’

The message is saved in Moore’s phone.

‘‘He was planning his comeback right then and there,’’ he said.

Treadwell returned in grand fashion. As a junior at Ole Miss, he made 82 catches for 1,153 yards and 11 touchdowns. He was voted first-team All-Southeastern Conference by coaches and was a Biletnikoff Award finalist (best receiver).

NFL teams aren’t only impressed by his size, production and aggressive style but also by his resolve. Just as he did in high school and at the peewee level, Treadwell ended his college career like a champion, making three touchdown catches in the Rebels’ 48-20 victory against Oklahoma State in the Sugar Bowl.

‘‘Laquon probably played at about 70 percent [health] last year,’’ Moore said. ‘‘That injury just lit more of a fire under him.’’

Treadwell still reaches out to Moore late at night. There are text messages about buying a JUGS machine and about getting an apartment near the practice facility of whichever team drafts him. There are 11 p.m. phone calls from the treadmill.

‘‘He just visited with the Giants, it’s 11 o’clock at night in New York and he’s in the hotel fitness center, running,’’ Moore said. ‘‘He said: ‘I’m getting ready to be rookie of the year. That’s my goal.’ ’’

* * *

A trip to the grocery store turned into a lesson for Treadwell and his brothers. They weren’t teenagers yet, but when his mother saw a stalled car and woman in need of help, she told her sons to do something.

‘‘Helping people is something I always made sure they did, especially my sons,’’ she said. ‘‘I made them get out and push the lady out of the street. You have to help because you never know when you’re going to need that helping hand.’’

Treadwell will be honored Monday at Balmoral Elementary School in Crete, Cottage Grove Upper Grade Center in Ford Heights and Crete-Monee High. At the same time, he plans to announce his sponsorship of programs at all three schools.

‘‘I just hope I inspire kids coming out of Chicago to want more and believe they can get more,’’ Treadwell said. ‘‘Never settle on your dreams. Just stay with it because that’s what I had to do.’’

A peewee championship is part of that.

‘‘All that I could think about . . . was that he fixed his cleats,’’ his mother said. ‘‘Whatever the situation is, he puts his mind to it and keeps thinking he’s going to do it.’’

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Email: ajahns@suntimes.com