Christian Covington is a native of Vancouver, British Columbia and attended Vancouver College Prep for his entire academic career as the school is a rare K-12 situation. While playing prep ball, Covington recorded 276 tackles and 38 sacks, including 83 stops and 15 quarterback takedowns as a senior. He helped lead his team to a Provincial Championship and was rated the top defensive lineman in all of Canada coming out of school.
Covington redshirted his first season at Rice before putting together a phenomenal first season on the collegiate gridiron. In 12 games, Covington recorded 43 tackles, eight tackles for loss, and a career-high five sacks.