With the falling economy, it’s hard to find any stocks to invest in.

But a few are rising. And according to a Sports Illustrated online story released on Monday, DeKalb residents only need to look at one of their own local products to find a rising investment – and I’m not talking about Monsanto.

Earlier in the week, the Web site released the 2009 rising and falling stars for next spring’s NFL draft. Of the eight players with rising stocks, NIU’s own defensive end Larry English made the list.

And for those of you who didn’t take the tip to buy English’s stock before Monday’s article, Tuesday night may have provided some proof of why it’s time to buy.

The senior recorded three tackles, two sacks and forced a fumble in route to a NIU 42-14 win over Kent State.

By bringing the quarterback down two times last night, English moved into the school record books with the most sacks ever by a Huskie. The defensive end’s 31.5 career sacks moves him 0.5 sacks ahead of former leader Cary Caliendo.

If that isn’t an indicator to buy some stock in this player, then I don’t know what is.

But even though the local markets might be convinced, there still may be pessimists on the national scene saying, “Well that’s nice and all, but this was done in the MAC, not a major power conference.”

For all those skeptics out there, let’s think about this. Even with a cast on his hand for all but one game this year, English leads the Huskies in tackles-for-the-loss, sacks and forced fumbles this year.

And then there’s the fact that the defensive end has been targeted by every team as a force to stop. Opponents have thrown everything at English from double teams, to leading blockers, to anything your mind can think of. So far, nothing has worked.

And for all of those who say that English has dominated the MAC, but hasn’t been able to produce against the “big teams,” here’s an interesting statistic.

The senior recorded 2.5 sacks against Tennessee earlier this season. So far, in 10 games this season, that’s the most sacks the Volunteers have allowed to one player.

Tennessee has faced UCLA, Auburn, Mississippi State, South Carolina, No. 11 Georgia, No. 4 Florida and No. 1 Alabama this year. Besides facing talented teams, the Vols have also gone against top sackers like Eric Norwood of South Carolina, who has nine sacks this season. Norwood was able to get two against Tennessee, putting him just slightly behind English.

But as always, stocks can be built on expectations and not on what the company has actually done. So for English, just like he’s done his whole career, he’s going to have to prove why his stock should be so high.

He’s already convinced this writer, though, that it’s time to buy.