Covington Sits in Eye of Hurricanes’ Quarterback Storm

His frustration comes through resoundingly with each word, although Miami quarterback Scott Covington does his best to convince you otherwise. True, his career isn’t turning out as he had hoped, he wishes his coaches were a little more talkative and the Hurricanes don’t scare people much these days.

That aside, everything is going just fine.

“I’m happy I’m here,” Covington said. “I’m not going to say that just because everything hasn’t worked out perfectly that I shouldn’t be here.

“There are some things I wish were better, but I still have a lot of time. It’s not like it’s over yet.”

True enough. Trying to avoid a quarterback controversy, Miami Coach Butch Davis said Tuesday he will platoon his two young signal callers in Saturday’s game against Pittsburgh, and possibly for the rest of the season.

“For the remainder of the football season, the two quarterbacks are going to play in every single ball game,” Davis told the Associated Press. “Hopefully, this won’t become some type of a soap-opera saga.”

It might be too late for that. The proud Hurricanes have gone from being dominant to being a doormat, which hasn’t helped the troubled psyche of Covington, a redshirt freshman from Dana Hills High School.

UCLA routed Miami, 31-8, in a season-opener, and the Hurricane faithful prayed the game was a fluke. It wasn’t. The Hurricanes (2-3, 1-1 in the Big East Conference) stand a good chance of not playing in a bowl game for the first time since 1982.

“We’re having a very un-Hurricane-like season,” Covington said. “More than one loss down here is a big deal, so you can imagine how everyone feels. But the season isn’t over by any means. We just have to reel off six or seven [victories] in a row and we’ll be right there.”

Covington also wants to right his personal situation sooner than later. His No. 1 problem was his status--he had none.

The Hurricane coaching staff hasn’t laid out a clear line of succession. Ryan Collins got the job to open the season but was ineffective and gave way to Ryan Clement after an injury.

Collins came back, but Davis stuck with Clement. And this after Davis hinted he might yank Clement in favor of Covington.

The only certainty then was that Covington didn’t start and played little. More disturbing to Covington was that Davis and his underlings wouldn’t name a backup regardless of who started. So Covington was left wondering where he fit in.

“There’s a lot of competition among us, so I’m just trying to do my duty when my number is called,” he said.

Covington hasn’t embarrassed himself. If anything, he’s making decisions even tougher for the Hurricane leaders. In mostly mop-up duty, he has completed 11 of 18 passes for 185 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.

“I think I’ve done real well for the time I’ve been in there,” Covington said. “I haven’t had an opportunity for any extended playing time, but I think I’ve shown what I can do.”

That was his plan all along. Dennis Erickson, the Miami coach at the time, coveted Covington two seasons ago because of the numbers.

No, not his stats at Dana Hills, which weren’t eye-popping for that level. These were the numbers Erickson liked: 6 feet 4, 200 pounds.

Covington’s size, combined with his arm strength, made him a perfect fit for the Hurricanes’ pro-style offense, Erickson thought. So did Covington.

But Erickson left Coral Gables after last season to coach the Seattle Seahawks. Enter Davis. Covington clearly wasn’t ecstatic about how things were going, but he’s committed to making his Miami experience worthwhile.

“It’s hard to say if anything would be different if Coach Erickson had stayed,” Covington said. “All I know is that I’ve worked hard to play. I hoped it would be in the cards this year and I’m going to keep working hard to make it happen.”