Since the NFL draft is around the corner, it’s great to see Canadian players as well as a Vancouver player making news south of the border.
Christian Covington (6’2” – 289lbs) is the top rated Canadian NFLer with and in the offseason calls Vancouver home.
http://www.nfl.com/
He is a defensive tackle who played at Luke Wilson’s alma mater (Rice University in Texas) is the top rated Canadian with a score of 5.37.
Looking at his draft status it’s interesting to note that www.Walterfootball.com indicates that he will be selected between the 3rd and 5th rounds.
He is compared to NFLer Dwan Edwards, which indicate that he has several strengths including shooting out of stance and into blocker with a good forward lean and sight line for pad level.
He also brings lots of power to his game and is an effective two-gaper who plays with proper arm extension when using it.
Term http://www.thephinsider.com/2014/3/7/5482102/football-101-defensive-line-gap-techniques
He has the ability to get himself free from various blocks and has the ability to Frees himself from vigorous block action and reads the line well and keeps his eyes trained on any motion in the backfield.
It is reported that some areas of improvement are that he doesn’t gather feet under him after the initial engagement, causing body control and balance problems that see him on the ground far too often.
He needs to be able to lose the blocker much sooner and has to learn to improve or use the skill level that he has with his hands.
He did manage to dislocate his Kneecap in second game of the season and missed the rest of 2014.
An AFC Scout reports “I thought Christian was an early third-day selection, but could have really improved his status if he had stayed another year and with that said, all bets are off until he gets medical clearance because of that knee.”
Covington has played just two years of college football after missing almost the entire 2014 season due to a knee injury.
Missing an entire year of football and the injury that caused his absence will both be hills to climb, but he’s flashed NFL traits and talent previously.
Incidentally Covington’s dad is Grover Covington who was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2000.
Grover Covington (54) set a CFL record of 157 sacks during his 10-year with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
http://www.cfl.ca/