Blake Countess visiting Arizona

Submitted by Magnus on

Blake Countess is officially visiting Arizona. In case you don't remember, he committed to Rich Rodriguez at Michigan shortly before Rodriguez got fired. This seems like an apt landing spot if it does indeed happen.

As far as I can tell, Arizona has one returning corner (Jarvis McCall, Jr.) with a battle between Cam Denson (two starts) and converted wide receiver Davonte' Neal for the other spot. I would think that Countess could go in and win the job opposite McCall.

JonnyHintz

May 19th, 2015 at 12:16 PM ^

Heisman voting translates to NFL... How? Tebow for example.

I know, I know. You think it's a little different for a defender. But being productive in college doesn't necessarily translate to NFL success. The NFL tends to go towards freakish athleticism and potential over production in college.

I mean come on, who in their right minds would draft Frank Clark over Jake Ryan if that were the case?

cbuswolverine

May 19th, 2015 at 1:51 PM ^

Why are you assuming that he isn't a great athlete?  Scooby Wright's SPARQ score was higher than that of both Tebow and Reggie Bush.  He's a great athlete.  Also, the numbers he put up last year are easily the best of any college defensive player in at least the past decade.  

He was first in the nation in tackles, TFLs, and forced fumbles and third in the nation in sacks, as a true sophomore.

Kiper and McShay both have him going in the first round in 2016.  Just watch him play.

LBSS

May 19th, 2015 at 3:36 PM ^

Counterpoint: Michael Sam, who was SEC DPOY and barely got drafted. Turns out that was for good reason. And I don't buy the "but he's gay" argument. Sure homophobia is real and probably some teams held their noses and turned the other way at the prospect of bringing an openly gay man into the team; fuck all of them, whoever they are. But there were serious legit football concerns about his ability to play in the pros. Namely, that he's too small to be an effective DE and too slow to be an effective LB. 

I don't know anything about Scooby Wright, but it IS possible to be a great college football player who will never be a star or even a roleplayer in the NFL and who gets drafted (or not) accordingly. Just as it's possible to be a great college basketball player who never gets a cup of coffee in the NBA.

alum96

May 19th, 2015 at 6:29 PM ^

Yep - ranked as good as UM or better in most advanced stats and Arizona faces a lot more difficult offenses week in and week out - there was no Washington, Cal, Oregon type offenses in the Big 10 in terms of pass crazy action.  If anything Blake is going to get a ton of opportunities in the game to pass defend as any DB will in the Pac 12.

Magnus

May 19th, 2015 at 10:03 AM ^

By the way, I have also thought of WVU as a possible landing spot because Rodriguez's boy Tony Gibson is the defensive coordinator there, although he coaches linebackers (Brian Mitchell is the cornerbacks coach). Cullen Christian followed Gibson to Pitt and then to WVU, so maybe Countess feels connected to Gibson, too.

Everyone Murders

May 19th, 2015 at 10:08 AM ^

I hope he is able to find a landing spot in a Big 5 conference, and it would be nice for him to finish up with the coach who recruited him.  Especially if he's reasonable assured that he has a starting spot for his last year of eligibility.

Nothing but best wishes to Countess moving forward.

Padog

May 19th, 2015 at 10:10 AM ^

Just wondering here, do people root for Arizona? They aren't my second team by any means, but I do pull for them. I like Rich Rod and his offenses are really fun to watch.

Magnus

May 19th, 2015 at 10:16 AM ^

I root for them to do slightly worse than Michigan. That's not working out so well for me. On the one hand, Rodriguez got a raw deal and it would bug me if his whole reputation was tarnished because of what happened at Michigan. On the other hand, I don't want everyone for years and years and years saying Michigan really screwed up by letting Rodriguez go. So I hope he goes 9-3 every year while Michigan goes 10-2 or better.

I agree that Rodriguez's offenses are fun to watch, and I think they're more fun now that he has a solid passing quarterback (Anu Solomon) instead of running backs/wide receivers masquerading as quarterbacks. I enjoyed watching Denard, but sometimes the offense in total was pretty painful to watch.