Lincoln-Way West’s Austin Rowswell had a busy summer that included participating in invite-only football camps at Notre Dame and Wisconsin.

Was that a good thing for the junior wide receiver?

He’s honest about it.

“I think I should have waited until next year to go to camps,” Rowswell said. “That way I could have improved on my skills before I showcased them.

“My biggest fear is someone saw me this year and possibly checked me off the list. There were a lot of kids at the camps with good skills. I did my best, and we’ll see where it goes.”

If any of the recruiters did check him off the list, Rowswell has two more years to change those opinions.

High school football practice opened Monday in Illinois. Rowswell, who’s also an all-state and All-American track star, picked up a nice surprise before stepping onto the field.

Lincoln-Way West coach Luke Lokanc gave Rowswell the good news — he was named a captain via a vote among coaches and teammates. That’s a rarity in the program for a junior.

“In the 12 years we’ve been together as a staff, the only time we had junior captains was (twins) Alex and Andrew Gray in 2012,” Lokanc said. “I just shows you what type of person he is.

“He does everything right out here and he does everything right inside the doors and in the community. That’s the biggest thing when it comes to captains and leadership.”

There was a time in Rowswell’s sophomore year when he said he was 50-50 about returning to football and concentrating on solely track, where he is a top sprinter in the state and the nation in both the 200 meters and the 400.

A four-touchdown game last season against Bradley-Bourbonnais and some big plays against Stagg, however, helped transform those odds quite a bit.

“I’m back and I’m 100%,” he said. “I’ve been running track since fifth grade, but after the Stagg and Bradley-Bourbonnais games, it really opened my eyes about football.”

Last season, quarterback Cole Crafton said he was going to try to convince Rowswell to stay.

“He makes my job easier, for sure,” Crafton said at that time.

Crafton, a senior who has been the team’s quarterback for the last two years, was not at Monday’s practice. He’s playing in the Area Code Games at the University of San Diego — an event featuring the nation’s top 220 baseball players in the 2024 and 2025 classes.

Crafton, who committed to Louisville for baseball during his sophomore year, has a football offer from Northern Iowa. He’s on the radar of several other schools for football, made unofficial visits to Iowa and Notre Dame, and said he would like to play both sports in college.

The Crafton-Rowswell combination could be lethal this season.

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“It’s going to be fantastic,” Rowswell said. “He’s not here because of baseball, but last week was our dead week, and he and I came out to the field every single day to work on our chemistry.

“We conditioned together. We worked on routes. We got our timing down. Our chemistry is much better this year.”

Last year’s 3-6 record didn’t sit well with Rowswell and his teammates. It was the first sub-. 500 season since 2009 for the Warriors.

Rowswell sees one silver lining.

“It could be good because people won’t look at us, but I think now is the time to show who we are,” Rowswell said. “We have a great program with great coaches and great people.

“It’s time to come back.”

Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.