BY CLIFF SMELLEY
The AutoZone Liberty Bowl named Manny Covey the University of Cincinnati’s Most Outstanding Offensive Player of the Game after he gained 106 rushing and receiving yards in his team’s 35-13 loss to Navy on Jan. 2.
Covey, a redshirt sophomore running back who graduated from Bradford High School, rushed for 78 yards on 11 carries, with his longest run netting a career-high 36 yards. He caught five passes for 28 yards, with his longest reception covering 18 yards.
The former Tornado, whose senior season at BHS was 2022, added 53 yards on three punt returns to his totals, making him the game’s leader in all-purpose yards with 159. Covey was the game’s second-leading rusher behind Navy’s Alex Tecza.
It was the first start for Covey as Cincinnati was without its top two running backs. Tawee Walker and Evan Pryor entered the transfer portal. Quarterback Brendan Sorsby, who was one of the Bearcats’ top three rushers along with Pryor and Walker, entered the portal as well.
It was a rough ending to the season for Cincinnati, which lost five straight games and finished 7-6, but perhaps it was a positive sign of things to come with Covey, who’s played in all 25 of the Bearcats’ games after redshirting in 2023.
Covey rushed for 62 yards on 17 carries his freshman season, while also catching eight passes for 119 yards and two touchdowns. His highlight game occurred in a 44-41 loss to Texas Tech in which he caught six passes for 100 yards and two touchdowns.
This past season, Covey rushed for 198 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries. He caught eight passes for 82 yards and returned 16 punts for 156 yards.
Covey’s best rushing performances in 2025 prior to the Liberty Bowl were four carries for 43 yards in a 70-0 win over Northwestern State and five carries for 47 yards in a 45-14 loss to Utah.
His longest pass reception was 37 yards in a 26-14 loss to BYU. It was his only catch of the game.
Covey was an early enrollee at Cincinnati after signing his letter of intent in December 2022. He rushed for nine touchdowns and approximately 600 yards as a senior at BHS before fracturing a bone in his ankle during the Tornadoes’ eighth game. During his junior season, he rushed for 558 yards and seven touchdowns on 102 carries. He also caught 27 passes for 399 yards and two touchdowns.
As a sophomore at Union County High School, Covey rushed for 810 yards and 10 touchdowns on 123 carries and caught 15 passes for 299 yards and three touchdowns.
