Did #2 lose his job on Saturday?

Submitted by Jon06 on

I haven't seen much discussion of the disappearance of Blake Countess in the second half of the Penn State game. I wasn't looking for him every down, and the UFR will present us with a definitive answer, but it seemed to me that we moved away from a nickel package featuring Countess at NB in the early part of the game to a lot of 4-3 (presumably 4-3 Over but I can't tell) featuring James Ross MAKING PLAYS mixed in with a nickel package that suddenly featured Cass Tech little person Delonte Hollowell at NB. It's obvious that Jourdan Lewis has taken Countess's job on the outside, but now I wonder if Countess has finally lost his job on the inside, too.

For what it's worth, I thought Hollowell showed well enough in press coverage (or at least I didn't notice anything terrible), while Ross MADE some great PLAYS, including authoritatively holding the edge in a play that's already been given the .gif treatment around here. The only Blake Countess sighting I remember late in the game was his recovery of Penn State's second, post-fictional-penalty onside kick.

I'll be looking to this week's defensive UFR for answers, but in the meantime, what do you think has happened to Blake Countess and the CB depth chart?

In case you need an inflammatory comment to get going, I'll say this: if I'm Blake Countess, I'm busting my ass to graduate this year so I can take a graduate transfer to a team playing a zone defense that fits my skills in the hopes of getting drafted.

Also, just for fun, I'm putting the over/under on the number of downvotes from people who also call me stupid in the comments at 2.5. Total downvote over/under: 10.5.

AHM16

October 14th, 2014 at 12:53 PM ^

A LOT of the threads started here are pretty insightful. I never understood the people who go crazy and insult the OP. Just makes me think that everyone around here is sexually frustrated and needs to get laid.

BigCat14

October 14th, 2014 at 3:38 PM ^

on the 'Talking Dead' when Chris Hardwick asked Gimple if the Terminus leader would replace the Governor as the biggest villan?  Or if there was another (Dr) evil force to be reckoned with?  I am a Walking Dead and Talking Dead fan, so your comment lit a fire!  

Go Blue!

Maizenblueball

October 14th, 2014 at 6:59 PM ^

I am a huge Walking Dead/Talking Dead fan, and yes, I heard Gimple mention that last week.  Of course, he doesn't want to say too much, but he alluded to the fact that we might have another "Governor" type of villan this year.  At least that's how I remember it, but I could be wrong.  Such a good show!

2manylincs

October 14th, 2014 at 9:50 PM ^

this is the most "michigan man" in the dave brandon sense on the term post ever.

Could you just never speak from now on? there are many great people who Graduated from UM, and there are many great people who never heve even considered UM in their minds.

To classify people into 2 classes, people who graduated from UM and those who didnt is about as ignorant as it gets. No matter what the argument or debate is.

I mean if you want to list a DBag HOF, UM has quite the lineup going for us by your "respect and civility" standard..

ann coulter

madonna

Kaczinksy

kevorkian

DuValier

and im sure that far smartermgoblog members than me can think of far more names that are low on the "respect and civility" scale than the ones i could think of.

I'm not saying these are the people who set our standards,or that i disagree with them and their politics, I'm just saying that we all have our skeletons in the closet, and this was a stupid post.

I think that mgoblog is better than this post from  991gt3

ken725

October 14th, 2014 at 1:10 PM ^

According to wiki:

 

A special case involves the eligibility of a player who loses the majority of a season to injury. Popularly known as a medical redshirt, a hardship waiver may be granted to athletes who appear in fewer than 30% of team competitions (none after the midpoint of the season) then suffers a season-ending injury. Players granted such a waiver are treated for the purposes of eligibility as though they did not compete in that season.

WMU81

October 14th, 2014 at 1:00 PM ^

I see no reason not to play the other CB's.. The ND game we were torched because the Countess and Taylor couldnt stop anything.. Same goes for te Kstate game. I'm a huge fan of Blake but I have to say that I'm disappointed by the lack of progress in his game.

ijohnb

October 14th, 2014 at 1:00 PM ^

we need Peppers to get healthy, quickly.  And yes, I saw very little Countess in the second and I don't know how much we are going to see going forward.  He is getting picked on, hard. He took at pretty good Cissoko-ing in South Bend and has not looked like the same player since.  (And he has never looked quite how I thought he was going to look pre-Alabama).

Muttley

October 14th, 2014 at 1:01 PM ^

It did seem to me that Jesse James head was over the 20yd line before the ball was kicked (only because he was leaning forward and is so tall.)

However, my understanding is that offsides on the kicking team is a lot like a second baseman touching 2nd on a double  play.  Unless it's really egregious, it doesn't get called.  (Maybe that's not the case for onsides plays?)

 

michgoblue

October 14th, 2014 at 1:01 PM ^

This is a good thread.  An actual discussion of Michigan football, player competition for time, scheme that best fits a player, etc.  Had you not ended with the last few defensive comments re: getting negged / downvoted, called stupid, I bet that very few - except perhaps a few posters that live to post snark - would have said one bad word.

As for the substance, I kinda agree with you - Countess looks like he is getting passed by other corners more suited for man coverage.  Unfortunate, as I thought that he had a lot of potential after his first 1-2 years.  He has regressed substantially.  Coaching?

Blue in Yarmouth

October 14th, 2014 at 1:17 PM ^

I want to state this going in so if my idea is bad people may take some mercy on me. It seems like a common opinion that BC struggles in man coverage but we have seen that he is very good in zone and is an able tackler as well. He has good speed and is a bit of a ball hawk when playing zone. With this in mind and our struggles at the safety position, couldn't we push him to safety where we are in need of someone to go along with Wilson? 

Wilson has played some strong safety and if BC played FS he wouldn't be used so much in run support so he could then utilize he zone and ball hawking prowess in a centerfield role. 

I mean, as I said I'm no genius so there is something that obviously makes this option impossible, but could some explain to me that would be because I don't know enough to figure it out.

shallowcal

October 14th, 2014 at 3:37 PM ^

that safeties do much more than "go back there and make plays on the ball"

he would get manhandled around the los, he cant cover a te, so putting him back at safety seems to be limiting that position on the field quite a bit.