Micah Rucker was nowhere to be found Thursday night after Eastern defeated Tennessee Tech 45-24 in the Ohio Valley Conference and season opener for both teams.

His locker was empty; he wasn’t in the O’Brien Stadium conference room or in the parking lot outside the stadium.

Several teammates looked for him, but to no avail.

Finally, he emerged from the training room, a mere hour after finishing what is becoming a routine occurrence for the senior wide receiver.

Another game where he scores multiple touchdowns (two).

Another game where he has more than 100 receiving yards (169).

And another game where the 6-foot-6, 221-pound Rucker continues to cement his legacy among all-time Eastern wide receivers.

“I don’t want to slight anybody, but I can’t remember off-hand anybody having the impact that he has,” Eastern head coach Bob Spoo said. “And our game plan is to get him the football as much as we can.”

That was evident right from the Panthers’ first drive.

On Eastern’s second play of scrimmage, Eastern quarterback Cole Stinson hit Rucker with a quick pass at the line of scrimmage. Rucker caught the ball and followed his blockers for 13 yards.

Rucker was used primarily as a deep ball threat last year, but he used his speed and athleticism to his advantage on Thursday night.

He scored his second touchdown by basically catching a five-yard pass from Stinson and running the remaining 13 yards into the end zone.

His first big play came on Eastern’s second drive, with Stinson hitting Rucker on a 49-yard pass down the middle of the field. Stinson sold the play-action play well, faking a handoff to the running back. That kept the Tech safety up in coverage, giving Rucker one-on-one coverage against a Tech cornerback.

Tech didn’t use much double coverage against Rucker, choosing to defend him with one player for most of the game.

Rucker said Tech’s defensive game plan surprised him.

“We thought they were going to play some (Cover) 3 or 4, and really, they came out and played man,” he said. “Their corners were back about seven yards and lined up on the inside, so we kind of saw from what they were doing. We could take advantage with some passes.”

Rucker was instrumental in Eastern taking the lead after the game was tied at 10.

Stinson hit Rucker, his roommate and former high school teammate, with a vertical route down the right side of the field. Rucker was pushed out-of-bounds, but came back in time to catch Stinson’s 31-yard touchdown pass and give Eastern a 17-10 lead.

Stinson, who finished 19-of-26 for a career-high 308 passing yards, said there were some moments where he and Rucker weren’t sure on what the other one was thinking.

“Even when we weren’t on the same page, the ball was close to him and he made a catch,” Stinson said. “That’s not a problem. We’ve been playing football together for a long time. We pretty much understand what the other guy’s thinking.”

Even when Rucker didn’t come up with a catch, he helped Eastern’s offense move forward.

He forced two pass interference penalties on deep throws to him with Tech defensive backs either bumping him out of bounds, or holding onto his jersey.

Eastern junior strong safety Ke’Andre Sams said what Rucker does in games doesn’t surprise him anymore because he sees what Rucker does every day at practice.

“He makes us better in practice because he tells us what to look at in a receiver, what type of route he’ll run by just the way he stands,” he said. “Just guarding him all camp and all practice definitely stepped our game up.”

Rucker also gave Tech head coach Watson Brown a rude awakening to the Ohio Valley Conference. Brown said he knew coming into the game what type of player he was.

But after the game Brown was quick to point out how they would defend Rucker differently the next time.

“Well, we might put eight (defenders) on him,” he said. “It seemed like every time they threw it up, he caught it.”