ELMHURST, IL. − If you're one of the millions who play fantasy football and use ESPN's Matt Bowen for weekly lineup advice, thank high school football for your victories.

Since 2015, Bowen has worked for ESPN, providing analysis on the NFL and who to insert into your starting lineups as fantasy sports have become a major boom across the nation on NFL Sundays.

On Friday nights, however, Bowen carries another title with him: assistant coach and defensive backs coach at Immaculate Conception (IC) Catholic Prep football.

Bowen has held the position with the Knights since 2015, the same year he joined ESPN.

"Coaching has helped me more as a writer because I am getting to see offensive schemes more than I ever have," Bowen told USA TODAY Sports. "Getting to gameplan again and getting to watch tape again — even though it's at a lower level, it still translates its way up."

The Knights (8-1) take on Genoa-Kingston (5-4) in the Class 3A IHSA first-round on Friday, Oct. 30.

From the NFL to prep football coaching

Bowen attended Glenbard West High School (Glen Ellyn, IL) before his collegiate career at Iowa, where he graduated with a degree in journalism. He also holds a master’s degree in writing and publishing from DePaul, which he received in 2006, following his playing days.

However, instead of jumping into journalism after college, Bowen was a sixth-round pick in the 2000 NFL Draft and enjoyed a seven-year NFL career, playing safety with St. Louis (2000-01), Green Bay (2001-02), Washington (2003-05) and Buffalo (2006).

Following the end of his playing career, Bowen moved back to the Chicago suburbs, but had an itch to return to the game in some fashion.

Enter Dr. Michael Calcagno, an IC grad who played collegiately for Bowling Green.

In 2014, Bowen went to Dr. Calcagno, who is the Clinic Director and co-owner of Olympia Chiropractic & Physical Therapy, for help with some injuries he sustained while in the NFL.

Calcagno knew of Bowen's playing history, did some research and determined he would be an asset for IC Catholic Prep, where he also serves as an assistant coach.

"The guy has tremendous passion," Calcagno told USA TODAY Sports. "When a guy has tremendous passion, you want to get him in a private sector so he can have a bigger impact on people. So I knew he would have a tremendous impact on the kids and it would be a good fit for him."

While Bowen did not immediately accept a position with the Knights, he did make it to a couple of summer camp practices.

Bowen liked what he saw, and took a position with the school in 2015 as the defensive backs coach.

"It's been a great thing for me," Bowen said. "It's something that I've said has helped me for work, but also from a mental aspect. When you leave the game of football, you cannot recreate it. Even working on football all day long, you still cannot recreate it. I need to be around like-minded thinkers and be in a football environment. That's what this gives me."

Bowen did have one stipulation for taking a role with the Knights.

"It wasn't money," Calcagno said. "He said, 'I just want to wear a headset during the game.' I told him we could work that out."

Matt Bowen coaching son, top recruit Grant Bowen

Since joining head coach Bill Krefft's staff, Bowen has been part of four IHSA state championships with IC Catholic, the last one coming in 2022.

Despite that, the last few years have been even more meaningful for Bowen.

That's because he now has the opportunity to coach his son, Grant Bowen. Grant is the 38th-ranked recruit in USA TODAY Sports' 2028 Composite Recruiting Rankings. He is the No. 1-ranked athlete in the class and the fourth-ranked player from Illinois.

Grant is one of four boys for Matt and his wife, Shawn. However, Grant is the first one who had a keen interest in playing football. Matt's oldest son competes in the Special Olympics, while his second-oldest ran cross country and track at York High School (Elmhurst).

"That was part of something I always hoped for," Matt said of coaching his son. "I have four sons and my two older boys are different athletes. My two younger boys are (football athletes). I think everyone gets into coaching and would love the opportunity to coach their own kid, and it's been so rewarding."

Grant earned second-team All-USA TODAY Sports Midwest Region honors and is one of the country's top tight ends.

Matt said he plans to continue coaching at IC Catholic at least until his youngest son goes through the program.

"I've had opportunities to move on to have had head coaching opportunities," Matt said. "But everything's about timing when you have a family. ... My wife's also a teacher. A busy life and I feel most comfortable here right now, where I'm at being the assistant head coach and working up Bill Kreft. I believe what we do as a program and I believe in the Catholic education."

Grant said that he has watched his dad's film of his playing career in college and the NFL on "CDs," but his dad corrected him and told them they were called DVDs, though his old games are all on YouTube now as well.

"It's been great playing under him," Grant told USA TODAY Sports. "He's someone I can talk to. He has a lot of knowledge when it comes to the game of football and just how to scheme for teams."

For Grant, while he has not made a trip up to Bristol, Connecticut, just yet, his dad being an analyst for ESPN still brings bragging rights.

"In like the fourth grade, it was the best thing to tell people," Grant said with a chuckle.