Eastern Illinois cornerback Jerry Addo-Boateng has started the last three games for the Panthers. His interception Saturday at Gardner-Webb helped the Panthers win, 21-7. (Photo by EIUPanthers.com)
By Barry Bottino
In five seasons, Jerry Addo-Boateng has played football at four different schools on four different levels of competition and two different positions.
“Every school I’ve been at, I’ve always been able to contribute,” said Addo-Boateng, now a fifth-year player at Eastern Illinois.
The last two years in Charleston have been interrupted by a pair of serious injuries, but they haven’t stopped Addo-Boateng from moving into the starting lineup a month ago. In last weekend’s win at Gardner-Webb, his memorable career featured a wow-worthy interception.
He has started the last three games at cornerback for EIU (2-4 overall, 1-0 Ohio Valley Conference), which hosts Lindenwood (1-4, 1-1) at 2 p.m. Saturday.
“He’s matured immensely,” EIU head coach Chris Wilkerson said. “He’s been in a lot of different systems, different cultures, different locker rooms. But he’s been very limited here.”
The pain of injuries
Those limitations began for Addo-Boateng, who was born in Ghana, during fall camp last season when he sustained a torn Achilles tendon.
“I was just getting in my groove,” he said. “Everything was starting to click.”
The rehabilitation process was scheduled for nine months.
“I came back in just under six months,” he said. “I practiced the last month of the season. They let me do individual drills and run around.”
Spring practices and summer workouts allowed him to get his strength back, and then some.
“In the spring, I started to get my speed back,” he said. “Now I jump even higher than I could when I first got hurt.”
Wilkerson added: “He’s every bit of the athlete he was beforehand, if not better. It’s pretty impressive. He’s a very gifted athlete.”
Kidney concerns
Playing cornerback wasn’t Addo-Boateng’s first position. As a freshman at Division III Anderson (Ind.) University, he played safety.
But before he played his first college game, Addo-Boateng wound up in the hospital.
During a fall camp tackling drill, he sustained a ruptured left kidney.
“They told me it would heal on its own. I didn’t need surgery,” he said.
As a sophomore at D-II University of Indianapolis, he was a backup cornerback and “mainly played special teams.” His junior season at NAIA Defiance College in Ohio ended with three interceptions and a team-high eight pass breakups.
After transferring to EIU and injuring his Achilles, the 2026 season also got off to a painful start.
“During preseason this year, we were in a coverage drill. I jumped up to catch an interception and got hit in the stomach,” he said.
That hit sent him to the hospital with another left kidney injury. He now has a stent put in the kidney every three months, Addo-Boateng said, and eventually it will have to be surgically removed.
He missed the final two weeks of preseason preparation earlier this fall but rebounded physically and is expected to start his fourth game in a row Saturday.
The prolific pick
In last weekend’s 21-7 OVC win at Gardner-Webb, Addo-Boateng helped secure the win with one of the most dynamic EIU plays of the season.
With just over 6 minutes remaining in a third quarter and the ball inside the EIU red zone, Gardner-Webb quarterback Lan Farmer lofted a pass toward an open receiver near the goal line.
“I knew I wasn’t going to catch it,” the 6-foot-3 Addo-Boateng said. “I just tipped it up, then I tipped it to myself again.”
That second tip allowed Addo-Boateng to secure the ball and stay inbounds at the EIU 6, ending the potentially game-tying drive.
“Luckily, I’m blessed with long arms,” he joked. On the sidelines, his teammates “all were freaked out.”
The play was shown multiple times in film study this week, in part because the Panthers were fortunate to get a turnover because of a communication breakdown.
What Wilkerson called a “post-snap communication glitch” left Addo-Boateng out of position and the receiver behind him wide open.
“It was a very nice, athletic play,” Wilkerson said. “But it was not the position we want to put him in on defense.”
Growing up in Florida, where he moved with his family at age 7, Addo-Boateng loved basketball and played throughout his youth.
He didn’t touch a football field until high school, when he was convinced by a basketball assistant coach to give it a try.
Now, he’s starting for an FCS school.
“It’s definitely benefited my confidence,” he said. “I’ve only played one full year of corner (before EIU). It’s all coming together.”
Kickoff: 2 p.m.; TV: ESPN-Plus; Radio: WEIU.net/hitmix
Key matchup to watch
EIU RB Charles Kellom vs. Lindenwood defense: Kellom leads the OVC in rushing touchdowns (six) and ranks second in rushing yards (480). He faces a Lindenwood defense that has given up the third-most rushing TDs (12) in the conference and nearly 163 yards a game on the ground.
What’s at stake?
A victory would move the Panthers to 2-0 in conference play for the second year in a row.
Quick hits
Quarterback Cole LaCrue was 2-for-4 passing in last weekend’s win at Gardner-Webb in heavy rains and windy conditions. The game brought back a memory for Wilkerson from his playing career at EIU. “I told Cole after the game that in 2001 we played a home game at O’Brien in similar conditions, and we had a natural grass field,” Wilkerson recalled. “Tony Romo was our starting quarterback and we actually did not throw a forward pass. We did not attempt one.” The Panthers won, 12-0, on the strength of four field goal in that Oct. 13 game 25 years ago. … After gaining six turnovers in Saturday’s win, Eastern now ranks fourth in the nation in turnover margin (1.5), third in fewest turnovers lost (three) and is one of only three FCS schools not to throw an interception. “The ball is the program,” Wilkerson said. “On offense, we focus on can we maintain possession of the football? On defense, it’s ball disruption.” Eastern is tied for eighth nationally with seven fumble recoveries. The team has five interceptions. … When the Panthers take the field Saturday, it will be only their second home game of the season and first in 35 days. Eastern played five of its first six games on the road, including trips to FBS Minnesota, South Dakota State and Gardner-Webb, which is located in North Carolina. … With his third 100-yard game of the season last weekend, Kellom has moved into 30th place on EIU’s career rushing list with 1,191 yards. … Eastern currently has a nine-game streak of gaining a turnover on defense or special teams.
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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