The Strange Career Path of Ex-Husky Corner Jacobe Covington
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While Jacobe Covington met with University of Washington football beat writers for the first time during spring practice, Husky teammates passed by and repeatedly called out his name in a playful manner.
"J-a-a-a-c-c-c-o-o-o-b-b-b-e-e-e."
Clearly, he was popular player on Kalen DeBoer's inherited team.
Yet it wasn't enough to keep him in the UW program as the 6-foot-2, 195-pound cornerback fled the Huskies two days following the closing scrimmage last April — which he did not participate in — and headed for the transfer portal and ultimately USC.
Last Saturday, Covington finally found what he'd been chasing for three seasons, as this touted player who hadn't fulfilled his promise, by starting for the first time in 24 games at two schools in the Trojans' 38-27 victory over Notre Dame.
Yet it didn't go off without a hitch, with Covington getting beat for a 23-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter by Fighting Irish receiver Deion Colzie.
Jacobe Covington can't stop a 23-yard TD pass to Notre Dame's Deion Colzie.
Gary A. Vasquez/USA TODAY Sports
But it was a start. As a starter. Maybe no looking back.
Still, Covington remains somewhat of an enigma to everyone wherever he goes. Consider USC defensive coordinator Alex Grinch's revealing Tuesday observation to reporters of the defensive back's time spent in that program so far.
“He’s a guy we brought in to play and play early — he didn’t, which is a frustration,' said Grinch, the WSU defensive coordinator in 2015-17 for Mike Leach. "I hope he was frustrated by it. Some weeks, I’m not sure that he was.”
Clearly, Covington made one of the strangest departures from the UW football team in recent memory. After suggesting he should have played sooner for previous Husky coach Jimmy Lake, the Arizona native stressed that hadn't considered leaving Montlake.
“I love it up here, it’s home, it’s home," he told a cluster or media members at Husky Stadium. "I wasn’t going nowhere. I love the fans and I love the city. Anywhere you go, you have to play football. You just have to play. So I just decided to stay here, stay loyal to the fans.”
Twelve days later, Covington was gone.
What transpired in that time was returnee Mishael Powell and UC Davis transfer Jordan Perryman solidifying themselves as the UW starting corners, and that likely didn't sit well at all with Covington. He was the blueblood 4-star player brought in and the others were a former walk-on and a Big Sky import.
Yet two separate coaching staffs had determined that they had other players more reliable in coverage than Covington.
Powell got the call in 2021 to replace injured All-Pac-12 corner Trent McDuffie for three games, not Covington. And Perryman, from the FCS level, had come in and beat him out, which had to be a real sore spot.
The ironic thing about this situation is both Powell and Perryman went down with injuries early this season, both lost in the first three games, and that created a crisis situation at cornerback.
At fate would have it, Covington likely would have started for Perryman in the second game of the season against Portland State, or at the very least subbed in for the hobbled Powell in the fourth game and maybe never come out of the lineup.
He could have been as much as an 11-game starter for the Huskies if it had all worked out just right.
With Covington in the lineup, as a veteran sent into action rather than all of those true and redshirt freshmen, DeBoer's team possibly could have reversed those touchdown losses to UCLA and Arizona State — at the very least defeated the shorthanded and coach-less Sun Devils — and been unbeaten this season. Preparing to play USC in the Pac-12 championship game.
Just a thought.
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