Why Britain Covey, the Eagles’ 25-year-old rookie, put football dreams on hold to serve in a foreign country

The foundation of Britain Covey’s football career is a mantra passed down by his grandfather.

“Build on your strengths and organize to make your weaknesses become irrelevant.”

When the Eagles’ training camp hopeful was around 10 years old, his parents started bringing him into devotionals led by his grandfather Stephen Covey, the author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

Britain wasn’t exactly an eager participant at first. He’d grown used to spending Sunday mornings at a Latter-day Saints church service only to swap out his white collared shirt and tie for Levi’s and a T-shirt afterward so he could play football in the yard.

But some of what he soaked in from his grandpa, who died in 2012, has manifested into the situation he’s in now: Fighting for a roster spot as a slot receiver and return specialist for the Eagles.

At 5-foot-8, 173 pounds, his size is the weakness he wants to make irrelevant.

His speed is the strength he’s hoping to build on.

“A lot of people look at me and think I’m a risk,” Covey said. “I always get a kick out of that because success is a formula, it’s not measurables a lot of times. I feel like I figured out the formula to be successful regardless of my risk factors. I understand what my limitations are. I’m aware of those things. I don’t try to be something I’m not. But I also have some strengths, so building on those makes me less of a risk in my mind.”

Covey signed with the Eagles as an undrafted free agent out of Utah. The 25-year-old got a later jump on his NFL career than most because of a two-year LDS mission in Chile that postponed his college career.

When reflecting on the two years spent doing missionary work in a foreign country, Covey’s second mantra comes into play.

“Life is not about accumulation, it’s about contribution,” Covey said. “Everything my grandpa wrote, he wrote for the benefit of helping other people.”

When Covey got to Chile for his mission, he had at least one reason for optimism.

“It was the first time in my life I was taller than everybody.”

Covey had spent the previous year playing 12 games for the University of Utah as a true freshman and earning freshman all-American nods as a return man from multiple publications. He spent the next two years doing various types of community service in Chile, away from football and everything else he’d grown accustomed to.

The type of work varied; Chile mission president Reed Harris said missionaries split time between preaching to local residents and doing manual labor to help community development.

“That might just be washing a car to helping build a house, or putting in a garden, whatever they need,” Harris said. “We’re looking for ways that people will let you into their lives and ways to serve them.”

Latter-day Saints missions are voluntary for members of the church, but many men and some women in the church choose to do them. Missionaries are randomly assigned, some international and some domestic, and are mostly disconnected from their families and friends. The missionaries are given a half hour each morning to exercise before starting a 12-to-14-hour day of work that includes service, studying, and sermons.

For Covey, the time was transformational.

“Going back to what my grandpa says, it’s a paradigm shift in life,” Covey said. “It helps you get outside of yourself and realize what’s most important and realize life isn’t all about you. It makes you grateful for everything you have.”

Harris and his wife, Kathleen, oversaw most of Covey’s mission in Chile and worked closely with him. They could see how much Stephen Covey’s work had influenced Britain, but said the time abroad helped reinforce those values.

“It’s kind of a time when young people find out who they really are,” Kathleen Harris said. “They strengthen their commitment to the testimony and teachings they’ve had all their lives. It’s a pretty defining experience.”

About a year into Britain Covey’s mission, Reed Harris asked him about his football career.

The two had grown close, but Covey didn’t want to talk football.

“I asked him about it one day at lunch, I had to pull it out of him,” Harris said. “It was like pulling teeth.”

By the time Harris got to his computer, Covey’s modesty was for naught. Harris searched Covey’s name on YouTube and found highlights of a slippery returner making plays for Utah. He learned Covey had been named to multiple freshman all-American teams and was honorable mention on the all-Pac-12 team as a returner.

He’d watched Covey and a fellow missionary push a car out of some flooding once, but didn’t exactly see a Division I football player before him.

“You see a guy in a white shirt and tie and a suit coat, you can’t see what he’s [built like],” Harris said. “You don’t run races in the mission, so I can’t see that he had good speed and agility.”

There was just one lingering question after Harris watched Covey’s Utah highlights.

Why did the grandson of a famous BYU alum, whose parents were in the BYU alumni association and whose older brother played wide receiver for the Cougars choose to play for their biggest rival? Covey grew up in Provo a few minutes away from BYU’s campus. Most Mormons would refrain from saying they hate anything, but Covey went as far as saying he “disliked” the Utes growing up.

“I didn’t even own a Utah shirt when I committed,” Covey said. “My mom had to borrow a Utah shirt from our neighbor.”

Even after spending so many years repeating the expression, “Friends don’t let friends go to the U,” Covey was headed to Salt Lake.

The potentially unpopular decision came down to belief.

He’d led Timpview High School to two state championships as a run-first quarterback that was difficult to catch in the open field, but he needed to switch positions to play Division I football.

“At my size and my skill set, you have to have someone who believes in you,” Covey said. “Utah was the place that believed in me the most. They never saw my size as a disadvantage.”

It didn’t hurt that Utah was coached by Kyle Whittingham, the older brother of Covey’s high school coach, Cary.

“Cary said he was maybe the best football player he’d ever been around,” Kyle Whittingham said. “He thought he was a potential Pac-12 player.”

Whenever Covey hears the soft thwack of a kickoff or punt landing into his arms and lowers his gaze onto the herd of defenders screaming toward him, a twinge of fear sets in.

How could it not?

“Fear’s not a great motivator in life, except when you’re returning a kickoff back,” Covey said half-jokingly. “I’ll tell you, you’ll run so fast when you’ve got these 250-pound linebackers chasing after you.”

Covey has been one of the most sure-handed returners in Eagles training camp so far and should get plenty of chances to prove himself in the team’s final two preseason games. He sprained his thumb trying to catch a rifled pass in the preseason opener against the New York Jets, and said after the game he thought he had torn ligaments.

Coach Nick Sirianni reminded Covey his expertise is in religion, not CAT scans.

“He told me he can be a priest, but he is not a doctor,” Sirianni said. “I’ll tell him to keep his doctor opinions [to himself].”

Covey set Utah’s school record for punt return yards and his 4,241 all-purpose yards rank third in school history. He scored four touchdowns on punt returns and one on a kickoff return against Ohio State in the Rose Bowl his senior year.

“He runs like he’s running for his life,” Whittingham said. “I guess when you’re 160 pounds and you’ve got 230-pound guys bearing down on you, that’s somewhat true. Every time he touches the ball, he’s electric. You’re just amazed at the things he can do. The cuts he can make, and the sheer speed.”

Covey’s aspiration is to become the next in a long line of smaller-stature players to stick in the NFL. He grew up idolizing players like former Eagles running back Darren Sproles, former Patriots receiver Julian Edelman, and former Eagles running back Vai Sikahema.

Last year, Covey wore a pair of cleats with the jerseys of a handful of iconic undersized NFL players, including Sproles, painted on the outside and the famous “fight in the dog” Mark Twain quote on the inside.

“They’re my heroes,” Covey said. “To have representation for undersized guys as a kid — and I’ve been able to be that for a lot of kids in Utah, which is fun.”

Covey has since met Sproles and spoken with Sikahema since joining the Eagles. Sproles is a personnel consultant in the team’s front office and sometimes helps coach the returners during practice.

“I feel like a little kid when I’m talking to him,” Covey said. “He’s larger than life to me. Some of those guys are guys that I’ve looked up to my whole life.”

It didn’t take long for Covey to capture Sirianni’s attention after he signed with the team.

During rookie minicamps in the spring, the slot receiver made a cut that piqued Sirianni’s interest, so much so that it resonated with him a few months later.

“He made a move early on in rookie minicamp with some major quickness,” the coach said earlier this month. “That’s what you see with him. He’s really quick. He catches the ball well. And he has a great feel of what to do out there and he’s smart. He knows all the positions.”

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Even with praise from Sirianni, Covey faces an uphill battle to land on the Eagles’ 53-man roster at the end of the preseason. The team has starting receivers A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Quez Watkins to go along with experienced players Zach Pascal and Jalen Reagor, who has been the Eagles’ starting return man.

Greg Ward is another veteran receiver, although he’s missed most of training camp with a toe injury. Ward’s absence has opened up some first- and second-team reps in the slot for Covey, but his best chances of making the roster will likely revolve around what he can offer as a returner. As a result, he’s trying to showcase his strengths while making his weaknesses become irrelevant.

“I feel like the one thing I have that is God-given that you can’t really teach is the ability to run with the ball,” Covey said. “You can learn so many other skills. Route-running, catching, understanding of the game, but running with the ball, you either have it or you don’t.”

“I understand that if I make the team, primarily it will be as a returner to start,” he added. “I’m trying to give them the confidence in both areas to where they know there’s not much of a drop-off from the starters to me. Or that I’m going to catch every punt. I’m trying to be aware of my limitations and understand where my value lies.”

Inquirer Eagles beat reporters EJ Smith and Josh Tolentino preview the team’s second preseason game against the Cleveland Browns and recap the two joint practices leading into the game. Watch at Inquirer.com/EaglesGameday