BRUCE COVERNTON GETS HIS final shot at the University of Idaho tonight in Wildcat Stadium, which means Weber State quarterback Jamie Martin figures to be harder to find than he's ever been.
Covernton, at 6-foot-6 and 295 pounds, is to Martin what the Great Wall was to the Ming Dynasty; what the Royal Guard is toQueen Elizabeth. If you want an appointment with Martin, you've got to go through Covernton, and Covernton has a very short list of people he'll let through.
In the past two seasons, as Martin has turned himself into the finest Division I-AA quarterback in America, he has been sacked just 20 times, and only twice from the left side of the line, where Covernton, his chief protector, starts at left tackle. This season, Covernton hasn't personally allowed one opposing tackler to get through.
"We really take a lot of pride in keeping Jamie protected," Covernton says, speaking
on behalf of the entire Wildcat offensive line. "The better he performs, the better for all of us. We don't want anybody getting to him."
Against Idaho tonight, Covernton, Martin & Weber will face their biggest test of the season, squaring off against a Vandal team overwhelmingly picked in the preseason to win the Big Sky Conference.
"Personally, I'm 0-for-3 against Idaho," says Covernton, not without discontent. "This is my last chance."
This season is also his last chance to play on a winning team at Weber State. The teams he's played on the three previous seasons have gone 5-6, 3-8 and 5-6, respectively. Now, after a 4-1 start this season, all kinds of redemption is at least a possibility, if not at hand.
Weber's improvement is due in no small part to Covernton's anchoring of the offensive line. A transplanted O-lineman - he started out as a defensive tackle in 1988 - Covernton has turned into what Weber coach Dave Arslanian calls, "a dominating player . . . a pretty good defensive lineman who has turned into a great offensive lineman."
Covernton laughs about how upset he was when the coaches asked him to switch from defense to offense at the end of his freshman season. "I was just getting the hang of defense," he says, "and I was pretty mad about it. But now I think offense is where I belong. I didn't evolve on defense like I have on offense."
There is a difference between the approach needed to play defense and offense, Covernton, an honorable mention All-American last season, says.
"On offense, you've got to be more laidback and calculating," he says. "If you get too worried about killing the guy across from you, you can lose track of what it is you're doing.
"Offensive linemen have to be the technicians, whereas defensive linemen are more like cavemen."
It is also Covernton's opinion that technique is more important than size. At 295 pounds, he lists himself as exhibit A that weight can be overcome.
"It's not too hard to take care of a guy, no matter how big he is, if he's standing straight up," says Covernton. "That was me when I first started playing defensive line."
Not surprisingly, Covernton had a lot to learn when he first came to Weber from his home in Winnipeg, Canada. As a freshman in 1988 he had size and potential but, except for one season of prep school football, no experience. Growing up, like all Canadian boys, he played hockey and dreamed of making it one day to the National Hockey League.
That idea was dashed when he didn't stop growing.
He continues to this day to skate and play hockey whenever he can, but it's football that has become, as he says, his meal ticket.
It's football that has paid for his college education - a degree in public relations is just one quarter away - and it's football that is likely to provide longterm professional employment, if not in the National Football League then the Canadian Football League.
The CFL, which has strict import rules that limit the number of U.S. citizens on its teams, drools over 295-pounders, like Covernton, who are trained at major American colleges.
"Every Canadian I know who's been here (at Weber) has been drafted in the CFL," says Covernton. "I should have an opportunity there, at least."
Thus motivated, he looks at his remaining six regular season games at Weber State more determined than ever to screen Jamie Martin's visitors, to keep out subversives, to let the man do his job. Just keep the cavemen out and you're going in the right direction.