Chris Houston attended Lyndon Baines Johnson High School in Austin, Texas where he played running back and cornerback on the football team and guard on the basketball team. As a junior, Chris rushed for 426 yards and 6 touchdowns. He concentrated on the cornerback position his senior year. Chris was considered to be one of the top 100 overall prospects in the state of Texas. He was recruited by LSU, Oklahoma, Georgia Tech, Arizona, Houston, and Kansas State; however, he opted to attend the University of Arkansas where he sat out the 2003 season as a redshirt. The following season, Chris saw action in 8 games, starting at cornerback for 4 contests. He missed two games with a sprained ankle. Chris finished the season with 21 tackles and a pass break-up. As a sophomore, Chris served as a reserve cornerback and special teams player the first two games of the season before moving into the starting lineup due to injury. He went on to start the remainder of the season, finishing with 20 tackles, 8 pass break-ups, and a forced fumble on the year. Chris had a breakout year as a junior, setting career highs in tackles (45), interceptions (3), and pass break-ups (13). Chris still has another year of eligibility left; however, he has opted to skip his senior season to enter the 2007 NFL draft.

Chris Houston has starting experience against top competition, having played at Arkansas in the SEC the past three seasons. He has a good combination of speed, strength, and intelligence. He is a physical corner who also has the cocky attitude you need to play the position at the next level. He has fluid hips and excels in man-to-man coverage. Though he lacks great size, his strength allows him to matchup against bigger, stronger receivers while his speed allows him to stay with any receiver who lines up against him. He is an instinctive player and he makes a lot of plays on the ball. Though he gets his hands on a lot of balls, Houston lacks great hands and doesn’t make a lot of interceptions (3 career INTs). He will step up and support the run but he will take poor angles at times and he needs to improve his tackling technique. Chris Houston is not by any means a finished product. With less than two full seasons as a starter, he is still learning the cornerback position. He does have a great deal of upside and his outstanding performance at the combine should push him into the latter portion of the first round.