LOS ANGELES — Imagine moving cross-country to start a new job in a highly competitive field, and in an unfamiliar city – L.A., specifically. And we love L.A., of course, but besides that, picture coming originally from Provo, Utah, and feeling right at home here, even though you happen to be here auditioning for a role without much looking the part.
That would be Britain Covey, an amiable, 5-foot-8 wide receiver and punt returner who’s so diminutive that he’s been denied entry into players’ parking lots in the past and recently was mistaken for a member of the Rams’ front office. The bottom of his uniform number – Cooper Kupp’s former No. 10 – touches his waistband.
Even so, I just know memories of the jitterbugging returner loom large for USC fans who found themselves bracing for chaos every time Covey touched the ball in some of those classic Pac-12 tussles between the Trojans and Covey’s Utes.
Because when Covey gets loose, good luck. Large part reflex, large part film study, he can look like one of those cats evading capture on the field, slippery. Diving, darting and heading, often, for paydirt – and if you’re a would-be tackler, he can make making you look dumb look easy.
Now he’s zig-zagged his way to L.A. after stops in Chile, on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Philadelphia, where he soared right into the boo birds’ hearts, reaching the loftiest of professional heights last season as a member of a Super Bowl-winning team before he signed a one-year deal with the Rams in May.
Big on Stephen Curry’s sentiment that “you have to be comfortable with the unpredictability of the outcome and still go for it,” the 28-year-old father of two is happy to be here in L.A., where he happens to be surrounded by hints of home.
For one, he’s known one of the Rams’ other receivers for years.
“The Nacuas and the Coveys,” Britain said, “extremely tight.”
Like, “the-type-that-would-open-my-fridge-and-not-need-to-say-anything” tight.
Going back so far that, well before Puka Nacua was the Rams’ star receiver, around Provo, he was foremost the younger brother of Covey’s high school teammates, Samson and Isaiah. Timpview, by the way, went 26-0 and won two consecutive state titles with Covey at QB, stacking an electrifying total of 111 total TDs by air and ground. Puka wasn’t part of the fun on the field, though, a freshman still when Covey was a senior.
“You’d kind of roll your eyes, like, ‘Oh, he’s coming along?’” Covey laughed after a recent Rams training camp session at Loyola Marymount. Puka caught up with the bigger boys, of course, became one of them – became the one whom everyone started to see was going to be the best of them all. “I feel like an older brother in a way,” Covey says now. “I’m just really proud.”
And to make matters more familiar, Covey also keeps hearing echoes from home coming from his new boss, Sean McVay. And Covey is proud of that, too.
“Coach [Sean] McVay, honestly, is such a leadership guru in and of himself,” Covey said. “And I love to hear him quote my grandpa; he quotes him all the time.”
For example: Covey said McVay recently counseled his team about the importance of “listening with the intent to understand, not the intent to reply.” That’s Habit 5, “Principles of Empathetic Communication,” from Stephen R. Covey’s world-famous book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People” that was published in 1989.
“All these things that I grew up hearing, at first they kind of go in one ear out the other, but as you get older, you kind of remember, ‘Oh, that principle makes sense to me now,’” Britain said. “And that’s the thing, they’re principles, they’re not just fads.”
They’re so long-lasting that McVay is making use of them in 2025 with NFL players – including the new guy, who hosts a podcast with his brother, Stephen H. Covey, that isn’t your typical athlete pod. It’s called “Paradigm Shifting Books” and it’s dedicated to exploring titles focused on “personal and professional development … from the boardroom to the locker room.”
Of course, back when the Nacuas were grabbing stuff out of his family’s fridge, Britain wasn’t banking on suiting up in NFL locker rooms. I read in the Deseret News that he wasn’t even recruited collegiately until Utah called (while he was in an a cappella class at Timpview) to offer the kid who grew up a BYU fan his first scholarship.
Seven years later – with the mission, injury and the extra COVID year baked in – Covey found himself on the NFL’s radar. He’d become one of the most decorated return specialists in college football, Utah’s all-time leader in punt-return yardage and a three-time All-Pac-12 selection. And though he went undrafted, the Eagles – who signed him to their last open roster spot – obviously were interested, and so too were the Rams.
And the Rams actually rang again in Year 2, Covey said, before Philadelphia signed him to a regular contract after the first game of the 2023 season – in which he’d when he’d rush for an NFL-leading 417 punt-return yards.
And they rang a third time this offseason, teaming him at last with the younger Nacua brother, who’d been a freshman on a lower-level team when Covey was a senior on varsity.
And, yes, Covey said he’s “loving” L.A..
“I always hoped I could play with one of my best friends,” he said. “So it’s a treat. And I really hope to make the team, make an impact, wherever that is. Yeah, I might not be the biggest, but I can bring something to the table.”
He’s made a habit of it, after all.
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