Big Ten Football Top 150 Players: No. 110, Blake Countess, Michigan CB

No. 110: Blake Countess, #18, CB, Michigan
 

2011 Stats: Six starts, 44 tackles, 1.5 tackles-for-loss, six passes defended

Strengths

Countess burst onto the scene as a true freshman last season, working his way into the game, first on special teams and pass-heavy situations, and then into the starting lineup as the second starting cornerback after Troy Woolfolk was moved to safety. He's got a stranglehold on that position now, and after a great spring, he might even already be better than fellow starter J.T. Floyd.

Countess plays extremely well in space and can play to the ball like a seasoned veteran. He's fast, agile and proved in his special teams' play that he's not afraid to go full-speed, no-hesitation at an opposing player to make a tackle. Coaches work for years to develop that lack of apprehension in their defensive backs; Countess has it and he's a sophomore.

Weaknesses

Despite his aggressive nature, Countess is still relatively undersized at 5'10" and 176 pounds, and if he goes up against a bigger receiver, he could get muscled out of position for a ball. Fortunately, there aren't a lot of those bigger David Boston or Braylon Edwards types of receivers in the Big Ten this season, so this might not be a big concern. Also, though Countess made some nice plays on the ball last year, he doesn't have any interceptions yet; you'd like to see him show the ability to finish big plays.

2012 Prediction

Countess will almost certainly get his first interception of his career this season, and probably at least another past that. He's also going to give the Big Ten a lot of problems with his cover skills, as the conference doesn't exactly feature a whole lot of QB-WR tandems that should strike fear into Countess' heart.

That all said, if Michigan hits 10 wins again this year, it'll probably face a team with a good quarterback and receiver. We're considerably less optimistic about the idea of "Elite cornerback Blake Countess" in that situation. He's pretty good right now, but "great" might be a year or two away.