Injury sidelines Charlotte 49ers’ Jamal Covington, but he has no time for idle time

An injury might sideline Charlotte 49ers’ offensive lineman Jamal Covington, but it can’t possibly idle him.

“Sitting around? No, not me,” Covington, a 6-4, 305-pound redshirt junior says one afternoon this week after practice. “I just view this as an opportunity to help my teammates. I’m just doing it in a different way.”

Covington started every game in 49ers’ history until Saturday night’s 73-14 loss at Middle Tennessee State. He suffered a broken big toe on his right foot in the first play of Charlotte’s game Sept. 12 against Presbyterian and is recovering.

He won’t play in Saturday night’s game against visiting Florida Atlantic.

Covington admits it “frustrates” him to be on the sidelines for the 49ers’ first home Conference USA game and their first home night game. It could be mid-October before he is back in the lineup.

But he is keeping himself busy.

“Jamal has turned into a coach with the younger offensive linemen,” offensive line coach Kevin Donnalley said. “He’s been working with them every day.”

“It’s all part of God’s plan,” Covington said. “I help where I can.”

That is a common theme in his life.

He was an honor roll student and a member of several student-athlete leadership groups at Lovejoy High in Fayetteville, Ga., near Atlanta. That sense of community involvement continued when he stepped foot on the Charlotte campus.

He is vice president of the Student Athletic Advisory Committee and the athletic program’s representative to the Student Government Association. He has helped form the Student-Athlete Ambassador Program, which will team juniors and seniors with younger student-athletes.

“We’ll give them someone to talk to,” Covington says. “A lot of times the younger student-athletes have problems and feel like there’s nobody to talk with. We want to be there, to keep them pointed in the right direction.”

Covington also is a member of the Minorities Opportunity Committee on campus and was chosen to attend last April’s NCAA Leadership Conference in Orlando, Fla. He is majoring in geography and environmental studies and says the study of geographic information systems (GPS, for example) “is what I love doing.”

It sounds like a lot to put on the plate of a 21-year-old who also consistently ranks among the team’s top offensive linemen.

“A lot of people say they don’t have time, but it’s how you organize things,” Covington says. “I have sticky notes posted in my car. I keep a schedule of everything in my life.

“I feel I’ve been called to do all this. It’s all about living your life with a purpose.”

Covington says his parents, Clinton and Amelia Covington, have helped many people in their lives. He’s just following in their footsteps, he says.

And he says Phil Ratliff, the 49ers’ offensive line coach who died in August of cardiac problems, also has influenced him.

“Coach Ratliff valued relationships,” Covington says. “It didn’t make a difference if you were a starter, a reserve, a custodian … whatever. He valued relationships with other people. That’s what I feel called to do.”

So until he can return to the field, Covington is making the most of his situation.

“This injury has humbled me,” he says. “I’ve learned that you need to take care of every opportunity. You never know when your final play is coming. You need to live life to the fullest.”

This story was originally published September 25, 2015 at 4:53 PM with the headline "Injury sidelines Charlotte 49ers’ Jamal Covington, but he has no time for idle time."