Those in attendance remember the very instant Charlie Houghton blew through like a Canadian norther and swept Georgetown football off its feet. It came early in the second quarter of last season’s 45-14 loss at Lafayette. Houghton, a slight scatback from Toronto, took a screen pass from quarterback Matt Basseuner, side-stepped an onslaught of hard-charging Leopards, and broke into the open field. Eighty-one yards later, Houghton found himself where he spends most of his time on the football field: alone in the end zone.

“I just remember catching that ball, looking around and not seeing that many people around,” Houghton says nonchalantly, recalling the memory of his breakout play as if he’s telling you about what he had for breakfast this morning. “It turned out to be like an 80-yard run, but I didn’t know until we watched it on film later.”

While the romp may not have moved the soft-spoken Houghton, it made quite the impression on his teammates.

“That play just showed that we have the kind of athletes that can make plays,” senior fullback and team captain Kyle Van Fleet says. “Charlie’s kind of a leader in that he’s already made that big kind of play. We’ve all fallen behind him because we want everyone on both sides of the ball making those kinds of big-time plays.”

Houghton’s 172 all-purpose yards that afternoon in Easton, Pa., were only part of what was arguably the strongest finish to a freshman season in the history of Hoya football. Over the final four contests, Houghton averaged 82.3 rushing yards per game, scored four touchdowns, and was thrice selected as the Patriot League’s rookie of the week. Following a season in which he finished as the team’s leading rusher, Houghton was honored as the conference rookie of the year, the first Hoya to win a major conference honor since Georgetown joined the Patriot League ranks in 2001.

He has picked up right where he left off this season, snagging eight balls for 96 yards in last weekend’s 35-28 loss at Stony Brook and emerging once more as a legitimate receiving threat out of the backfield.

Despite his spotlight-worthy stats, Houghton remains just as elusive off the field as he is on it.

“Charlie’s a little enigma,” senior defensive lineman Nmadi Obiako says. “You have to hunt him down and find him. He’s really quiet.”

Houghton has always let his play do the talking, ever since he was a standout back for St. Michael’s High in Toronto, where he was an all-Canada selection during his senior season and the MVP of the 2004 Metro Bowl, a local all-star game. His gaudy schoolboy statistics had college recruiters from Louisville and Illinois lining up across the northern border. But when the scouts saw Houghton’s slim stature, most retreated back south.

“Physically, I wasn’t where I should have been as a senior,” Hougton says. “Canadian football is a little different in that there’s not a lot of emphasis on the physicality of the game, so I was able to get by on natural talent. Coaches would be really excited about seeing my film and hearing the numbers, but then they would come to see me running around at combines at 185 pounds and that would be their wake up call. They weren’t too excited about recruiting a guy like me then.”

Upon graduation, Houghton decided the best call would be to spend a year letting the rest of his body catch up to his powerful legs. He enrolled at Phillips Andover Academy in Massachusetts and was immediately taken aback by the increased physicality of the American game.

“In Canada, the game is more dynamic and fast-paced,” Houghton says. “That was the first time I had to learn to run a little tougher.”

While his streamlined style of play may have been at a slight disadvantage at Andover, it has been a perfect fit in Georgetown offensive coordinator Jim Miceli’s wide-open offense. iceli’s emphasis on the screen pass out of spread formation caters to Houghton’s ability to make plays in the open field, just like his days back in the land of the maple leaf.

“I think I am really used to running around in open space because we have huge fields in Canada,” says Houghton, who likens his game to that of Philadelphia Eagles’ receiver-runner hybrid Brian Westbrook. “I can make moves and make guys miss.”

While his strength may still be his quicksilver shiftiness, Houghton has made a hobby of maintaing health and fitness, working tirelessly in the weight room to become what Head Coach Kevin Kelly calls “a physical specimen.”

Kinesiology is but one of the sophomore’s interests. Houghton, whose voice rarely rises above a loud whisper, also happens to be a die-hard fan of death metal.

“You won’t find it anywhere unless you are really into it,” Houghton says of his affinity for the ear-drumming busting music genre. “A lot people think, `Oh, that’s great, you listen to that crazy stuff before games?’ I’m like, `No, this is what I listen to all the time.'”

Houghton, who used to play in a band during high school and still loves to jam on his electric guitar, bewilders his teammates each time the deafening riffs of Camel Corpse blare from his iPod headphones.

“He listens to some serious metal,” senior linebacker Stephen Smith says. “It’s kind of peculiar stuff.”

Van Fleet claims the raucous music fits well with his backfield mates’ on-field intensity.

“It’s funny ’cause he comes into the huddle after he makes a play, he just comes in and he’s like, `HUUUGH! HUUGH! HUUUGHH!’ just barking like a dog,” Van Fleet says. “I’m serious, he gets pumped.”

But once he steps off the gridiron, Houghton returns to his normal even-keeled demeanor, the same unassuming guy that has earned the respect of his teammates.

“He’s the type of guy that everyone roots for,” van Fleet says. “I’ve never heard anyone on the team say one bad thing about Charlie.”

For Kelly, the expectations for Houghton are higher than the decibel levels pulsating from the swift back’s stereo.

“I think he’s the best back in the league. He came in this preseason in the best shape we had ever seen him,” Kelly says. “He’s gotten bigger, faster, stronger. He’s playing extremely well.”