Borden bolsters Eastern

Makai Borden has never been particularly adept at masking his emotions.

It’s a characteristic that has served him well on the football field. But off the field, it has done nothing but add to the frustration the junior middle linebacker has endured the past month while watching from the sidelines as his Eastern Washington University teammates all but play themselves out of postseason playoff consideration.

“It was a weird feeling that’s hard to explain,” Borden said of being forced into the role of spectator after suffering a severe ankle sprain prior to the Eagles’ unexpected 47-36 road loss to Portland State back on Sept. 10. “I’m not going to lie – I was ticked off, and it was really tough to deal with.

“At some point you find yourself feeling selfish, because you’re so angry about not playing. But then you realize that the last thing your team needs is seeing someone they consider a leader moping around. So I’ve just done my best to stay positive and not let my moping affect the team in any way.”

Whether such an approach worked or not is still open for debate. After falling to lightly regarded PSU, the Eagles (3-4, 2-2 Big Sky Conference) lost at home to Montana 19-3 before digging out a 34-17 road win over Montana State heading into last week’s second bye week of the season.

What is not debatable, however, is just how much Borden’s presence on the field means to Eastern’s defense.

The Eagles lost both games the 5-foot-11, 215-pounder missed with toe and foot injuries last year – including their quarterfinal-round matchup against eventual national champion Appalachian State in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

They went 1-2 with him on the shelf this past month, which means they are 11-3 over the past two seasons with Borden in the lineup and 1-5 when he isn’t.

“Whatever you want to say, or however you want to put it, the reality is our overall record with him not in the ballgame that last two years isn’t very good,” Eastern first-year head coach Beau Baldwin said. “Makai is a tremendous athlete at the linebacker position. He’s a former high school running back with a lot of athletic ability and football skills, who brings a lot of suddenness – a certain burst – to everything he does.

“And on top of all of that, there are the intangibles he brings. He brings a great energy and emotion that’s infectious, not only with our defense, but with our whole team.”

On Saturday, when the Eagles entertain Big Sky rival Sacramento State (3-5, 1-4) in a homecoming game that kicks off at 2:05 p.m. at Woodward Field, Baldwin expects to have Borden available again – for spot duty, at least.

“We’ve still limited some of the stuff he’s done at practice this week, but I’d say he is highly probable for Saturday,” Baldwin said. “I fully expect him to play, but I don’t know how much.”

Borden, a former two-way standout at Puyallup (Wash.) High School, isn’t as reserved as his coach when it comes to predicting his much-anticipated return.

“I’ll be back out there on Saturday, effectively running around and hitting people,” he said.

Prior to shutting it down with a fractured bone in his right foot during last year’s playoff run – an injury that kept him from practicing this spring – Borden had been involved in 52 tackles and picked off a pair of passes. In Eastern’s first four games this fall, he made 10 solo tackles and assisted on 16 others, while playing through the constant foot pain that has plagued him since his sophomore year in high school.

“I’ve kind of dealt with these foot issues for a long time, now,” Borden said. “I actually broke my left big toe in high school and didn’t find out I had broken in until after my senior year, so I played all three years with a broken toe.

“That injury still affects me today, which is frustrating, too, because it’s almost like I’ve become accustomed to the pain and my body has adapted to it. It’d be nice to have both feet healthy again.”

Unfortunately, that won’t be the case this weekend. Borden, who went through his first full practice in almost four weeks Wednesday, is still experiencing pain in his both of his feet.

“I’m still not back to 100 percent,” he said. “But I am back.”