Sooner or later teams will stop kicking to Britain Covey.

Covey got a pair of early kickoff return attempts in the first half of Saturday’s Rose Bowl game and got decent yardage on both. Ohio State was giving him returnable kicks. On the third attempt, right after the Buckeyes had struck big for a 50-yard touchdown pass to draw within one score of Utah, Covey broke loose.

Covey entered the game averaging 30 yards a return this season on kickoffs, though he’d only gotten five cracks at it. As a punt returner, though, Covey averaged nearly 15 yards per return and took two back to the house. He was one of only four FBS players this season with multiple punt return scores.

After the play, Covey even got a shoutout from a former longtime NFL wideout.

 

The Utes and Buckeyes are duking it out on ESPN. This year’s Rose Bowl game has already featured plenty of explosive highlight plays.