Lionel Hickenbottom is starting to make a name for himself in the Mid-American Conference.

After starting in his second game at NIU, the sophomore strong safety was named MAC West Defensive Player of the Week Monday. Hickenbottom made 17 tackles, two for losses, in the Huskies’ 17-12 loss to Illinois Saturday.

The Chicago native was shocked to find out he was named Mid-American Conference West Defensive Player of the Week.

“Man, you caught me off-guard,” the sophomore said after he found out in a phone interview. “This is a shock. This means a lot to me being MAC Defensive Player of the Week, especially for me playing only two games.”

NIU coach Joe Novak said Hickenbottom’s performance was above and beyond what Novak wanted in the run support.

“It’s a very deserving award,” said Novak. “Lionel has worked extremely hard. To win MAC Player of the Week in only your second college football game is pretty darn good. Lionel had a spectacular game and, hopefully, he can have a few more like that one down the line.”

The 17-tackle performance ties for the best performance in school history.

Jermaine Hampton, who plays with the Indianapolis Colts, had 17 tackles against Toledo Nov. 4, 2000. Donnavan Carter, who plays in the Canadian Football League with the Toronto Argonauts, had 17 against Iowa on Sept. 18, 1999 and against Ball State on Oct. 9, 1999.

“It’s really an honor to be mentioned with those two guys,” said Hickenbottom, “because they are two great players and they still have careers in football.”

After impressing coaches in spring training, Hickenbottom entered the season as the starting cornerback, but was moved to strong safety. The sophomore was a Prop 48 student last season and had to sit out and concentrate on academics.

In high school, Hickenbottom earned All-Section, All-City and All-State honors in 1999 as a senior at Chicago Robeson High School.

At the beginning of the season, Novak told the team that the secondary was going to be one of its weak spots. Even though Hickenbottom was pleased with the secondary’s performance Saturday, he knows there is still room to improve.

“We got a young group of people in the secondary,” he said. “We just played two games and we still have nine games left to play.”

Hickenbottom’s MAC award gives NIU its third MAC Player of the Week of the season. Junior tailback Thomas Hammock was named MAC West Offensive player of the week after rushing for a career-high 177 yards and placekicker Steve Azar was named MAC West Special Teams Player of the Week after kicking two field goals, including the game winner, in the Huskies’ 20-17 win over South Florida Aug. 30.