SURREY - Christian Covington sounds like a wise old Owl, even though he has yet to turn 18 or participate in his first football practice with Rice University, whose sports team are named for the great, avian symbol of mortal wisdom.

Covington, a Grade 12 student at Vancouver College, chose Rice, a leading research university in Houston, Texas, over more formidable football powers such as Arizona State when it came to declaring his intentions on National Signing Day, a U.S. tradition on the first Wednesday in February the U.S. when high school seniors formerly sign scholarship papers binding them to the college of their choice.

Taylor Loffler of Kelowna, a quarterback-linebacker who verbally committed to the Boise State University months ago, also put pen to paper at a ceremonial news conference held inside the B.C Lions' locker room in Surrey.

Loffler is believed to be the first player from Kelowna secondary to earn a college football scholarship to an NCAA Division I school. Covington is the first for Van College since 2008, when Trey Henderson, Brody McKnight and Dan Cordick scored a college football trifecta for the Fighting Irish on National Signing Day.

"I've been brought up to think that football is maybe only 10 per cent of an athlete's life," Covington explained. "God forbid, if anything should happen to me, that college degree is going to help me for the rest of my life. Football is not the end-all and be-all.

"Arizona State is a very good football school. But I do want to pursue medicine. I've wanted to be a doctor ever since I was a little kid. I want to be a football player/cardiologist."

Not exactly what you expect to hear from the son of Grover Covington, a Canadian Football Hall of Famer whose 10-year career mark of 157 sacks as a defensive end with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats still stands as the all-time CFL record. Christian grew up in Surrey, in a household where he could simply pop a video of his dad playing in the 1986 Grey Cup game at BC Place into the player and watch him fly like a bird of prey toward the quarterback.

"My family wanted me to play football of my own accord. They didn't want me to play simply because of who my dad was," Covington said. "They even told me, if I was to play football, that the Covington name would be a big burden on my shoulder, having to live under his shadow. I wasn't the greatest player in grade eight or grade nine. I really wanted to be a quarterback. But, my dad told me, 'Son, don't be a quarterback; chase quarterbacks.'"

The Fighting Irish did well enough at it last season - 15 sacks and 89 tackles in 14 games - to be named B.C. high school football's most valuable defensive player.

"Every Canadian university contacted him," explained Grover Covington, a North Carolina native who settled in the Vancouver area after his CFL career was done. "The Washington Huskies were looking at him, Cal, Arizona State. [But] Rice was a good fit for him. The classes are small and 90 per cent of them are taught by profs. What really impressed my family is when the coach told us, 'Your son has great penmanship.' I'm thinking, 'What did he just say?' He's not talking about his rip, his spin, his tackling abilities. He's talking penmanship."

Perhaps it's a different way they recruit at Rice, studying a football prospect's handwriting to determine his chances of success. But Owls head coach David Bailiff did make the long flight from Houston last week (and, boy, were his arms tired) to meet with the Covington family and sell them on the virtues of the Houston school.

Rice will represent only the second school Christian has ever attended. He has been a student at Vancouver College since kindergarten. His younger sisters, Asianna and Autumn, are students at nearby Little Flower Academy, and probably destined for National Signing Days of their own.

Asianna, 15, was the provincial high school girls' shot put champion last year and took bronze medals in the discus and hammer. She was in grade nine at the time. Likewise, Autumn, 13, is an age-group triple threat in the hammer, shot and discus.

mbeamish@vancouversun.com