Any evaluation of the most outstanding three-sport male athletes in Illinois high school history must include Johnsburg’s C.J. Fiedorowicz in a conversation with Dike Eddleman, Charlie Hoag, Willie May, Homer Thurman, Bob Trumpy and Dave Butz.
Fiedorowicz, a 6-7, 245-pounder with 4.55-second speed in the 40-yard dash, has attracted 11 big-time scholarship offers as a tight end in football and two Big Ten offers in basketball. He also can throw a 91 mph fastball but might pass up baseball this spring to compete in the 100, 200 and 400 meters and perhaps the discus in track and field. He has been timed in 11.1 seconds for 100 meters.
Fiedorowicz is the top-rated football prospect in the Chicago area in the Class of 2010. Other junior standouts are Notre Dame-bound offensive lineman Christian Lombard of Fremd, wide receiver Kyle Prater of Proviso West, defensive end Chance Carter of Loyola, Illinois-bound defensive back Corey Cooper of Proviso East and quarterbacks Chandler Whitmer of Downers Grove South and John Whitelaw of Hinsdale Central.
‘‘It is an outstanding class, one of the best in the last 20 years,’’ said recruiting analyst Tom Lemming, who has been observing the process for three decades. ‘‘Of course, you have to temper everything because things change from now to May [when college coaches make their personal evaluations]. But several kids are getting multiple offers now. That’s a good indicator that the college recruiters mean business.’’
Fiedorowicz knows his future is in football. He already has narrowed his list to six schools and plans to make a decision in the spring so he can concentrate on his senior season. He said he will choose Iowa, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Purdue or Illinois. But he admits he would like to consider Florida and USC, if they offer.
‘‘He looks like he should be in the NFL already,’’ Lemming said. ‘‘He has great size and speed, and he has production to back him up.’’
Johnsburg coach Todd Winter said he has produced 17 Division I football players and two who played in the NFL.
‘‘But I have never had a kid who was so athletic,’’ he said. ‘‘People look at him and can’t believe how athletic he is.’’
Curiously, Fiedorowicz didn’t play football until eighth grade because he was too heavy for youth leagues. But he accelerated quickly. As a freshman, he played four games on the sophomore squad, then was promoted to the varsity for the last five games and amassed 400 yards receiving.
As a junior, he caught 49 passes for 809 yards and 11 touchdowns in nine games, also played linebacker, was co-most valuable player of the Fox Valley Conference’s Fox Division and was a member of the Sun-Times’ 25-man All-Area squad.
‘‘When I got my first letter — from UCLA when I was a freshman — it made me realize I had a future in football,’’ he said. ‘‘Until then, I didn’t know I was that good. Now they say I’m No. 1 in the class. I don’t want to get a big head about it, but it gives me motivation to work harder.
‘‘I want to get my decision out of the way, maybe by spring. Recruiting has been kind of crazy, a lot of phone calls, a lot of letters. I have school and sports all year-round, and it’s hard to make visits and do everything I have to do. I want to have a great senior year.’’
Prater, a 6-5, 205-pounder with 4.53-second speed in the 40, has received scholarship offers from 18 schools, including Illinois, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Penn State, Michigan State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Stanford, Iowa and Minnesota. He hopes he’ll receive an offer from Ohio State and would like to get calls from Alabama and USC. He is the first Proviso West athlete to receive an offer from Stanford.
‘‘I’m enjoying the ride,’’ Prater said. ‘‘It is overwhelming, and I have to keep my head on straight. Recruiting gets hectic. As a freshman, I never thought I’d be in this position. I want to keep striving for more. This is only the beginning.’’
Prater said he doesn’t plan to commit early. Instead, he wants to wait until after his senior season, weigh all of his options, then pick five schools to visit before making a commitment. He already has chosen three finalists: Stanford, Penn State and Michigan State.
‘‘A lot of kids commit early due to pressure from colleges,’’ he said. ‘‘They let people get inside their heads. I feel I put in a lot of work, and I can wait. I want to find the right school for me. I want to feel comfortable in that environment. I want to avoid making a mistake.’’
Carter, a 6-4, 245-pounder, stopped playing basketball to concentrate on football. His mother didn’t permit him to play football until sixth grade because she feared for his safety, but he lost the drive to play basketball a year ago, and football became a priority.
There was a point when Carter thought his future was in basketball. Then he was invited to attend a one-day camp at Notre Dame before his junior year. Afterward, before Carter left the campus, Irish coach Charlie Weis offered him a scholarship. He said his defensive coaches loved what they saw.
‘‘It felt really great to get offered,’’ Carter said. ‘‘It said all my hard work and dedication to one thing really helped me a lot.’’
Carter has received five scholarship offers but lists Notre Dame, Stanford and Wisconsin as his finalists. He plans to make a decision by late March, graduate early and enroll in college early so he can participate in spring practice in 2010. He plans to major in psychology.
‘‘I don’t like high school; I’m tired of it,’’ he said. ‘‘I want to try something new. I want to jump-start my college education. I’m an independent guy, and there’s more diversity in college.’’
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