Red-shirt junior Erik Lora is the nation’s top wide receiver.

The Miami native has posted four 100-yard games, broken multiple school records and shattered an Ohio Valley Conference record that stood for 43 years.

In his last game, against Murray State, Lora recorded 269 yards and three touchdowns on 21 catches.

The 269 yards and 21 catches were both school records, and the 21 catches set the OVC record for catches in a single game.

“Honestly, I never thought I would set a record,” Lora said. “I set pretty high standards for myself, but never would I have thought that I would break school and conference records. I give all the praise to the O-line, Jimmy (Garoppolo) and all the receivers.”

Along with posting career-highs in every receiving statistic, Lora also made his mark in the passing game, throwing the game-winning pass on a two-point conversion to red-shirt senior Von Wise to give the Panthers a 50-49 win.

“I’m going to be honest, both of them our pretty spectacular, but Von (Wise) made that play,” Lora said. “The ball may have been there, but it was a pretty ugly throw and Von made a great catch.”

On top of his record-breaking performance against Murray State, the speedy wide receiver leads the FCS in receiving yards (647), receptions per game (12), and receiving yards per game (161.75). He also ranks 12th nationally in all-purpose yards, totaling 163.75 yards per game.

“My biggest thing is getting yards after catch,” he said. “Who knows how many of those 21 passes were thrown downfield? We throw a lot of screens and I just focus on getting yards after the catch. Every yard helps the offense so I just keep driving my feet and hopefully I will fall forward.”

For his season expectations, Lora said he set the bar at 1,000 yards, but with his recent offensive surge he is looking to be even more productive in the passing game this season.

“After the first two games, when I went over 100 yards, I set the bar at 1,000,” he said. “A 1,000 yard season wouldn’t be too bad, but after the games I’ve had lately, its now just about reaching for the stars.”

Although Lora is having a historic 2012 season, he has battled through adversity during his career at Eastern, as he was forced to miss the entire 2011 season with a hip injury.

“I had surgery down in Miami, Florida,” Lora said. “I stayed home the whole summer just working and doing physical therapy everyday. Then, I came back up here when school started and went through another rehabilitation period where I started running and getting back in to the motions.”

Although Lora did not see any action on the field during the 2011 season, he did get back on the practice field and played a pivotal role in the team’s weekly preparation.

“About midway through last season they threw me back on the field to see how I was doing,” he said. “I helped out on the scout team since I wasn’t playing, but it felt good to be back whether I was doing anything during games or not. It just felt good to play football again.”

The lengthy rehabilitation process has paid dividends for Lora, as he is on pace to record the best statistical season a wide receiver has ever had at Eastern.

He is on pace for 132 receptions, 1,779 yards and 19 touchdowns. Those numbers would shatter previous Eastern records, as no receiver has caught more than 76 passes, 17 touchdowns or gone over the 1,300-yard mark in a season.

“The guy never gives up and never surrenders; he’s everything you would want in a football player” head coach Dino Babers said. “If you get 95 players like that, you are going to win a lot of ball games and a lot of championships. We have a lot of people like that on this football team, but there is no doubt Erik (Lora) represents the right stuff you want from your guys.”

Erik Lora and the Panthers will be in action when they host Austin Peay at 1:30 p.m. Saturday for Family Weekend.

Jordan Pottorff can be reached at 581-2812 or jbpottorff@eiu.edu.