PHOENIX — Britain Covey jokes that he’ll have to use a little bit of his football learning when he becomes a new father next month.
“I’m ecstatic,” Covey said Wednesday, about becoming a first-time dad.
“I’ve always been afraid of newborns, if I am being honest, so I’m going to have to learn how to get over that. They’re so fragile and so small. I’m going to take everything I have learned in ball security drills and apply it to when I am holding my newborn.”
Before that happens, Covey has another milestone event happening this week.
The former University of Utah star wide receiver and return specialist is an undrafted rookie with the Philadelphia Eagles, and he is preparing for Sunday’s Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs, where he will field punts for Philadelphia.
His wife, Leah, is due to give birth to their baby boy in March.
“I’m really excited. Every baby that I look at has been calling my name because that’s kind of what happens,” Covey told the Deseret News during Super Bowl festivities.
“(I’m) grateful for my wife, who is a very good nurturer, just natural with all that stuff. She’ll help me out. I’m going to be the goofy dad that my dad was, my grandpa was. I’m sure I will be calling a lot of people for advice.”
There’s no doubt which event — the Super Bowl or fatherhood — the 25-year-old Covey is looking forward to more, though.
“Being a dad, without a doubt. Not even close,” he said.
“Super Bowl is once in a lifetime, of course. Hopefully not. Hopefully I get more, but being a dad is different. I would say anyone in this room would say the same thing.”
One of Covey’s teammates, Eagles All-Pro center Jason Kelce, will have an OB-GYN at Sunday’s Super Bowl at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, because Kelce’s wife Kylie will be 38 weeks into her pregnancy come game time.
“Hopefully (Leah) doesn’t go into labor during the game,” Covey joked about his wife, while adding a contingency plan for the couple would be, “I just told her to stay by Kelce’s wife.”
Covey pointed toward his family — which includes his grandfather, Stephen R. Covey, author of the bestseller “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” and his father Stephen — as examples he can learn from about what it takes to be a good father.
“I’m really lucky to have grown up in the family that I have because (they’re) so humble, so caring. I feel so privileged, and those teachings that kinda bounce off you as a kid, but then something happens later on in life that makes you say, ‘Oh, I get it. I understand why now.’ I feel like that’s been my whole life,” Covey said.
“I’m so proud of my heritage, just the humility and the generosity that my parents have shown their whole life with everyone they’ve interacted with. Anyone who knows them who is hearing this would say the same thing.
“I just want to emulate that.”