The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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Mallory had thought that Countess would make a good nickel back during the 2012 fall camp sessions. But the injury sidelined that discussion. In the spring, while he was still working out away from the team and studying film and the playbook, Countess asked to learn more about the position. "I always saw the nickel was always around the ball," Countess said. "They have that freedom to move around. I liked that. I pursued it, and it just so happened that I fell into the starting role. So I asked about it. "I can be a little more aggressive at the nickel because I'm inside. I'm fitting the run a little differently and blitzing. I can be more aggressive in coverage, too, because I have people behind me, whereas at corner, you have to keep everything inside and in front." Countess had never played the position, but he immediately took to it. "He was trying to get back to where he was at one position, meanwhile he's been studying another one all along," Mallory said. "He has two things on his plate. You might not put that on someone coming back from an injury, but we never thought about it with him, because you know he can handle it." Countess said he's still getting used to switching from one position to another mid-game when the situation calls for it, Countess Makes History With Three Picks In First Three Games When redshirt sophomore cornerback Blake Countess picked off Akron quarterback Kyle Pohl, it marked the 79th time in Michigan program history that a player has collected three interceptions in a season. That, in an of itself, is pretty special, especially considering that, until he picked off two passes against Notre Dame the week before, Countess had yet to intercept a pass in his career. "I got lucky on a couple of them," Countess said. "But we talked about creating turnovers all offseason and getting the ball back to the offense. I'm glad we've been able to come out and do that." The Wolverines picked off six passes in their first four games (Countess' three, and one each from junior cornerback Raymon Taylor, junior linebacker Desmond Morgan and sophomore free safety Jarrod Wilson), putting them on pace to smash last season's total of seven. Countess is just the fourth player in Michigan history to collect three interceptions in the first three games of a season. No player has ever picked off more than three passes in the first three games. Defensive back Tom Curtis (1966-69) was the first Wolverine to accomplish the feat, collecting three picks in the first three games of the legendary 1969 season, Bo Schembechler's first in Ann Arbor. Curtis, the Michigan leader in career interceptions (22) and single-season interceptions (10 in 1968), picked off a Vanderbilt