Jacobe Covington, once a highly regarded 4-star recruit from Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, Arizona, didn't work out as a University of Washington defensive back as planned.
He either got too impatient with the process or he simply couldn't show himself to be a reliable coverage guy and, to his detriment, just wanted to hit people.
Former Husky coach Jimmy Lake did everything he could to find more minutes for Covington in 2021, putting him through extensive spring practice auditions at safety and cornerback. In the end, seven different players started at safety last season, but Jacobe wasn't one of them.
This past spring, Covington couldn't grab one of the starting cornerback jobs left vacant by the Huskies' NFL-bound Trent McDuffie and Kyler Gordon, giving way to former walk-on Mishael Powell and UC Davis Jordan Perryman. So he left, ending up at USC.
Now a touchy situation such as this one with Covington could lead to a recruiting disconnect between the Huskies and the highly regarded Saguaro High Sabercats program, with future prospects wary of one of their own flaming out in Seattle.
Yet to new coach Kalen DeBoer's credit, the Huskies keep recruiting the Phoenix-area high school as hard as ever. This past week, the Huskies extended scholarship offers to a pair of extra young Saguaro High defensive backs in Jacobi Spence — yes, even another Jacobe or Jacobi — and Dajon Hinton.
Spence is a 6-foot, 170-pound cornerback from the Class of 2024 while Hinton, another corner at 5-foot-11 and 175 pounds, is even younger, hailing from the class directly behind his teammate. Both were offered UW scholarships on Friday.
Playing for Saguaro's 12-1 football powerhouse and state champion, these two are making their move.
Just a freshman, Hinton appeared in seven games and came up with 13 tackles, an interception, a forced fumble, a pass break-up and a kickoff return. He has other scholarship offers from Arizona, Iowa State and Louisville.
Spence got in two Saguaro contests and caught 3 passes for 40 yards while making 2 tackles. He also holds an offer from Northern Arizona.
So the Covington disconnect apparently hasn't hurt the Huskies, who continue to scour the Saguaro roster for talent. Besides Jacobe wasn't the only DB from that school to end up in Seattle.
Yet another Sabercats cornerback in Byron Murphy made the UW work for him just fine and he plays for the hometown NFL Arizona Cardinals, plus their Saguaro former teammate Parker Brailsford from last season's title run joined the Husky roster as an offensive guard this spring.
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