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Covington right medicine for Villanova running game

Running back Justin Covington, in action last season, ran for 141 yards and two touchdowns Saturday, but the Wildcats fell in overtime to Rhode Island, 40-37.
SUBMITTED PHOTO – VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY
Running back Justin Covington, in action last season, ran for 141 yards and two touchdowns Saturday, but the Wildcats fell in overtime to Rhode Island, 40-37.
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RADNOR – At 5-foot-11 and a solid 215 pounds, Villanova’s Justin Covington cuts quite an imposing figure on the football field.

The same goes for when he’s in surgical scrubs.

Covington is a rarity for Villanova. The junior running back from the Bronx is the only nursing major on the football team, and just the “third or fourth” player to choose that field of study in the last 32 years, according to Villanova coach Mark Ferrante.

“Nursing isn’t a common major basically because of the schedule,” Covington said.

The nursing program is daunting. In addition to the classes, it includes two clinical courses per week once a student reaches his or her junior year, according to the nursing school curriculum on the school’s website. Twice a week Covington makes the roughly 40-minute drive to Abington Hospital for his clinical course, which lasts six hours. Throw in football, which includes meetings, conditioning, medical treatment, practice time, games and travel, and there isn’t much down time.

With the help of the coaching staff, though, he makes it work on the field and in the classroom. There are days when he has to leave practice early, miss practice altogether or a group meeting or conditioning session, which he makes up later.

Covington is off to the best start of his career. Going into Saturday’s 6 p.m. kickoff at Bucknell, where the No. 22/23 Wildcats will try to go to go 3-0 for the first time since the national championship season of 2009, Covington ranks third in the FCS in rushing yards (243), rushing yards per game (121.5) and yards per carry (9.0). The 243 yards are nearly as much as he ran for last season (263) and in his freshman campaign.

He’s done that while sharing the ball with sophomore Jalen Jackson. Covington has 27 carries in the first two games, while Jackson had lugged the ball 21 times for 159 yards.

“When you’re a running back, you want the ball all the time, but it’s just not how it works here,” Covington said. “Rotating me and Jalen keeps both of us fresh.”

Covington is just as successful in the classroom. He’s a three-time member of the CAA All-Academic football team, which requires a cumulative GPA of 3.0.

“The toughest thing about the major is finding time to study,” he said. “There’s a lot of information and if you don’t study consistently, when you have a test it kind of blows up. I try to start looking at information a week before as opposed to a couple of days before so when the exam comes I can just review everything as opposed to trying to consume it all at once. There’s too much information to process … so I make sure I study to stay on top of things.”

Covington’s interest in medicine goes back to his middle school days. By high school, though, his view on becoming a doctor took a turn following a conversation with his mother, Nicole, about how long it took to become a physician. There’s four years of college followed by four years of medical school and then a residency of 3-5 years, depending on the specialty.

“I wasn’t sure how I felt about being in school that long,” Covington said. “Then we found nursing and I realized that I could get my BSN (bachelor’s in nursing) in four years, get my masters and maybe become a nurse practitioner.”

Widener at Lycoming

Two of the more successful programs in MAC history square off in Williamsport at 1 p.m. Saturday. The Pride (1-0) have won or shared 20 conference titles while the Warriors (11) have claimed 14 league crowns.

Widener is trying to go 2-0 for the first time since 2014 when it went 12-1 and fell in the NCAA Division III playoffs. Lycoming is trying to avoid its third 0-2 start in the last five years.

Quarterback Sean McGaughey and receiver James Gillespie put on a show in Widener’s 38-28 win over Rowan last week. McGaughey connected on 23 of 36 attempts for 284 yards and three touchdowns. Gillespie was on the receiving end of 13 of those passes for 158 yards and all three scores.

The Warriors are coming off a 42-26 loss to Susquehanna, the third straight year Lyco dropped the season opener to the RiverHawks. Quarterback Elijah Shemory threw for 312 yards and two touchdowns and completed a pass to eight receivers for the Warriors.