Freshman cornerback Isaiah Houi (23) stepped in Saturday after EIU starter NiJhay Burt was ejected for targeting in the second quarter of Eastern’s 45-38 victory against Western Illinois. (Photo by Sandy King, EIUPanthers.com)
By Barry Bottino
CHARLESTON – Throughout his high school career, Eastern Illinois true freshman cornerback Isaiah Houi was used to always being on the field.
“This is my first year not really getting a lot of playing time, like I did in high school,” he said Saturday. “It was something I had to adjust to. Just keeping a level head and knowing my time is going to come.”
That time came suddenly Saturday against Western Illinois at O’Brien Field – at the 14 minute, 51-second mark of the second quarter – for the Rockton Hononegah High School graduate.
That’s when Houi was thrust into the starting lineup after EIU’s top cornerback – junior NiJhay Burt – was ejected for targeting on a hard hit to the back of WIU wide receiver Eli Aragon.
Houi immediately got plenty of encouragment from his teammates.
“The guys had confidence in me. Everybody came up to me, telling me they had all the trust in the world in me, all the confidence in the world in me,” he said. “That helped me a lot. I went out there and trusted in myself.”
Houi had two of Eastern’s six pass breakups Saturday, along with a career-high three tackles, as the Panthers beat WIU, 45-38, to break a six-game losing streak.
Though Houi was a new face in the lineup, Eastern didn’t modify its defense against Western’s potent passing attack.
“We just stuck to the plan,” he said. “It’s just next man up. That’s what all the coaches here preach. I was ready for the moment. Coach is confident enough in me to put me out there and make plays, so that’s what I did.”
Western was coming off of a 564-yard passing game against Lindenwood the previous week, led by reigning Big South-Ohio Valley Conference Football Association Offensive Player of the Week Nate Lamb at quarterback.
For Houi, he settled in by trusting himself and looking at those around him, including veteran safeties Kaelin Drakeford and Mark Aitken.
“Just being disciplined, knowing I’ve got help wherever it’s needed in whatever coverage we’re in,” Houi said. “Them just talking and communicating with me, they were great with that.”
Lamb finished the day with 309 yards and three touchdowns, but he started the game 5 of 11 passing and 167 of his yards came in the fourth quarter.
Eastern’s defense limited WIU to only five passing plays of 20 yards or more.
As Western moved down the field in the final minute, the Panthers had a simple strategy.
“Try to keep everything in front of us, tackle them inbounds, just try not to let up any big plays. If they want to check it down, we’re fine with that,” Drakeford said.
Lamb threw back-to-back incompletions in the end zone on the game’s final two plays.
For Drakeford, it was another example of new faces taking over after injury.
At the other cornerback spot, for example, redshirt freshman Christopher Sharp is now starting for injured transfer Moses Alexander, who has missed multiple games. Sharp is backed up by reserve redshirt freshman Kiwaun Davis.
“Kiwaun and Houi did a great job,” Drakeford said. “All season, at every position, we’ve lost guys. We’ve had guys step up. Those guys have been working really hard all season.”
EIU head coach Chris Wilkerson added: “They’ve trained for this moment. Isaiah is a couple weeks away from being a second-year college football player. He’s played a lot of football through preseason camp and through the season.”
Though he vehemently protested the targeting call on the field with game officials, Wilkerson said the players didn’t panic when Burt was ejected.
“You don’t really have a chance to dwell on that in the game,” he said. “We tell the guys every week, ‘I don’t know who it’s going to be and I don’t know when it’s going to be or what position it’s going to be, but somebody who’s not anticipating playing a whole lot is going to have their number called. Your task as a player is to make sure you’re prepared and you’re ready when that moment presents itself. And, to try and battle the best you can.’
“That’s what Isaiah did.”
Barry Bottino is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin and a 19-year veteran of three Illinois newspapers. He has covered college athletics since 1995.
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