JERSEY CITY, N.J.——– As a versatile four-year starter on the offensive line for the New Jersey City University football team, Simod Covington (Newark, NJ/West Side) used his huge, 6-foot-6, 305-pound muscular frame to open up gaping holes in the middle of the field. Now Covington will have the opportunity to do the same professionally.
On Wednesday, Covington was selected by the Amsterdam Admirals in the eighth round of the 2001 NFL Europe free agent draft. Covington was the 45th overall choice in the 12-round, 65-pick draft.
In all, just five players below the Division I level were selected. Four were former Division II athletes. Covington was the only Division III player selected by the ninth-year, NFL-owned league.
“I think it’s a good opportunity for me,” Covington said Thursday from the NJCU football weight room. “Maybe this can help motivate the other Division III kids out there. For me, the first step is to get through training camp. [Covington leaves for Tampa, FL on March 19]. Then I go to Amsterdam. I have to keep working hard and go from there.”
Covington emerged as one of the top linesmen in the New Jersey Athletic Conference in a career that spanned from 1995-1998. He played both left tackle and right guard for New Jersey City, and started every game between his sophomore and senior seasons. Covington was selected to the All-ECAC First-team Offense in 1998.
A skilled blocker, Covington was an essential part of an offensive line that allowed running back Artis Garris to run for a then, school-record 2,259 yards in a two-year period from 1995-1996, while playing for head coach Roy Miller.
After finishing his collegiate playing career at NJCU, Covington joined the New Jersey Red Dogs of the Arena Football League, where he was a right guard and defensive tackle under head coach Frank Matiase.
Covington was drafted in the first round by the Houston Marshalls of the Spring Football League (S.F.L.), and played the entire 2000 season as a right and left offensive tackle wearing number 78 for head coach Ray Woodard.
After finishing the season with Houston, Covington kept the pads on and traveled up the Great Plains to North Dakota, where he started at right guard for the Fargo Freeze of the Indoor Football League (I.F.L.), also known as the A.F.2, for head coach Bob Cannon. Covington wore number 60 for Fargo, and was joined on the offensive line by college teammate Roberto Santiago.
“It’s unbelievable how far he has come and how he has developed,” said NJCU head football coach Arnold Jeter. Jeter was responsible for recruiting Covington out of West Side High School when he was then the associate head coach under former head coach Miller. “He was not very strong as a freshman, but has worked unbelievably hard in the weight-room. He’s come 360 degrees from what he was as a freshman. That just goes to show what can happen if someone comes here, stays here, and is dedicated in the weight room and academically. I think it’s a Cinderella story for him.”
According to Jeter, the person responsible for drafting Covington is former Pittsburgh Steeler defensive lineman Darryl Sims, who was coached by Jeter at the University of Wisconsin during the early 1980’s and is now serving as a defensive lines coach with Amsterdam.
“If it hadn’t been for Darryl, they might not have taken a serious look at him. One of Covington’s big strengths is his range. Some offensive linemen lack range.”
Jeter, who also coached former Cincinnati Bengal defensive tackle Tim Krumrie, a current defensive lines coach in the NFL, when Krumrie was at Wisconsin, described Krumrie’s thoughts on Covington’s chances to do well in professional football.
“He said one thing you [NFL scouts] really look for in offensive lineman in the NFL is range; that long arm span,” Jeter said about Krumrie. “Covington has that. That’s a plus for him. He has mass. Plus, as a former basketball player [four year varsity player in high school], he can move his feet. He’s a great athlete.”
“As a freshman I never lifted weights,” Covington said of his first year at NJCU. “I started at the end of my freshman year, and I found I really enjoyed doing it. The hard work has paid off.”
