Ex-Huskies Berry, Covington Draw Immediate Portal Interest

Stephen F. Austin, or SFA, is a level down for Berry, but the school is located just 20 miles north of his hometown in Lufkin. The big back had 20 FBS scholarships offers coming out of high school in 2021.

Berry was one of nine UW running backs on scholarship when spring practice ended and possibly learned he wasn't a good fit for new coach Kalen DeBoer's spread offense.

Covington will reconnect with USC, which one of 19 schools that offered him when he emerged from Saguaro High School in Scottsdale as part of the Class of 2020.

With Husky cornerbacks Trent McDuffie and Kyler Gordon entering the NFL draft and going among the top 39 players, Covington firmly was in the mix among the replacement candidates. 

Just two weeks ago, Covington said in a post-practice interview that he had never considered leaving the UW, that it felt like home, that he needed to be a Husky leader and had told everyone that.

Whatever happened between then and now forced him to make an abrupt decision to move on. On Tuesday, Covington interestingly posted his gratitude to the former UW coaching staff, but didn't mention the new one.

Covington appeared in 13 games in his two seasons with the Huskies, but never started.

Berry didn't play in any games for the UW in 2021 as he took a redshirt year.

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