'11 MD CB Blake Countess (Michigan Verbal)

[BGIF]

Cornerback
Owings Mills, MD Our Lady of Good Counsel HS

Ht: 5-10
Wt: 171
40: 4.48
Bench: 285
Squat: 415
Shuttle: 4.01
Vertical: 37
GPA: 3.1
Test: 970 (2 Part)

STATS
'09: 50 Tackles

RANKING
Rivals: , #16 CB, Rating 5.8, National #239, Rivals 250
Scout: , #18 CB
ESPN: , #13 CB, Grade 80<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

OFFERS
Arkansas
Cincinnati
Georgia Tech
Illinois
Louisville
Maryland
Pitt
Purdue
Stanford
Tennessee
Virginia
Wake Forest
West Virginia
Wisconsin

ND RECRUITER: Kerry Cooks

DECISION SCHEDULE:

 

[BGIF]

Blake Countess was recruited by Kerry Cooks before he joined Kelly at ND. Now he's got an ND offer and an invite to next months Junior Day.

ESPN has Countess on their 150 Watch List while Scout currently has him at 1 Star. Keep in mind it's early in the recruiting process. Evaluations will be taking place for some time.

 

[BGIF]

Countess will be attending ND's Jr Day.

 

[BGIF]

Added UC and Louisville offers. He's hearing from Clemson, UNC, Oregon, Rutgers, WF.

 

[BGIF]

DL Vincent Croce and CB Blake Countess were removed from the ND Jr Day List. Both have been listed for some time with ND offers that were widely reported by the services including Jeff Baumhower of IrishEyes and Brian Smith of ISD.

Now both Croce and Countess have been removed from the Offered List at ISD and Blue and Gold and placed in their Prospect/Interested category. Rivals and Scout still list them with ND offers.


I've removed the (Offer) from their thread titles.

 

[NDinL.A.]

There were reports out there that he did have an offer, but they were untrue. According to Steve Wiltfong though, he is still high on ND's list and an offer could still be coming...

 

[BGIF]

Per Allen Wallace
4/17

“I’m still not sure about my top five yet,” Blake Countess said. “I haven’t really narrowed it down yet. I know I’ll be visiting a bunch of schools this summer, but I have no clue where I’ll be going yet.” Countess lives only 45-minutes from Maryland and says the Terrapins are recruiting him the hardest. “I don’t want distance to be a factor. I’ll go where it’s the best fit. ...

 

[Praytorian]

Some people just have that football name where you think they are going to be great. This guy has one of those.

 

[GoingGreen]

Update

Update

UPDATE

Rivals: , #16 CB, Rating 5.8
Scout: , #18 CB
ESPN: , #13 CB, Grade 80

 

[BGIF]

Per Chip Towers, AJC

7/23

Countess was at GT this week.

 

[The Polish Irishman]

Per Chip Towers, AJC

7/23

Countess was at GT this week.

GT is consider one of his leaders right now. Would not mind him getting an offer. We need some secondary help.

 

[BGIF]

GT is consider one of his leaders right now. Would not mind him getting an offer. We need some secondary help.

He was supposed to have one early on than he didn't. I've never read what the problem was.

 

[mgriff]

He was supposed to have one early on than he didn't. I've never read what the problem was.

Ht: 5-10

Now I don't know if that is the reason but there's no denying Kelly and Diaco like and want taller DBs.

 

[BGIF]

Ht: 5-10

Now I don't know if that is the reason but there's no denying Kelly and Diaco like and want taller DBs.

Could be. While taller's the stated perference I'm not sure ND can afford to be picky. DBs are beating a path to South Bend to come visit. ND's involved with a couple but I don't that we're real tight with any of them.

7 months to go.

 

[mgriff]

I completely agree, this kid can play football, and would be a positive addition to the team, IMO. Kelly, however, seems to like his taller DBs for the system. Are all the DBs offered 6'+? Would be interesting to check out the offers to see if that is indeed the formula they are using.

 

[BGIF]

...Kelly, however, seems to like his taller DBs for the system. Are all the DBs offered 6'+? Would be interesting to check out the offers to see if that is indeed the formula they are using.

Josh Turner (UTX), Jabriel Washington (Bama) and Eric Dixon are 5-11. I think all the others are 6-0 or taller.

Valdez Shower is chasing an ND offer is 5-11

Doran Grant 5-10

 

[mgriff]

So it seems like he may make an exception for certain people based on his evaluation criteria. Interesting.

 

[SoInIrishFan]

Going by what Kelly has said, he's looking for RKG's. Maybe some of these young men don't fit. It seems most of the players he's recruited so far are able to play multiple positions, and are willing to do that for the Irish. Some of the un-offered recruits might not be "interchangeable". With that being said, Countess is an incredible athlete, and I would like to see him in SB.

Just my 2 cents!

Kibitz amongst yourselves!

 

[mgriff]

Well of course some of them aren't RKGs, but I see the trend of 6'+ DBs and there is no way every kid under 6' isn't an RKG. This leads me to believe that he wants tall DBs who can be physical with large WRs. Now your theory about interchangeable is right on. He may want them to be able to play DB or Safety, but still, why do some under 6' kids get offers? I might be looking for something that isn't there, but I believe there is something in his criteria that makes ND offer some and not others. I don't know what it is, but I'm examining the situation.

 

[SoInIrishFan]

Some questions that come to mind are.... can the athlete compete immediately, can their body frame adjust as needed, are there any character questions? Those are just some examples. ND needs DB's to have the ability to compete immediately if it's necessary. It could be coincidence with the size, or related to the athletes ability to compete immediately. As bad as this is going to sound, it seems like some of this is like watching horses train at the track, and then projecting what grade stake race they should run.

 

[mgriff]

Some questions that come to mind are.... can the athlete compete immediately, can their body frame adjust as needed, are there any character questions? Those are just some examples. ND needs DB's to have the ability to compete immediately if it's necessary. It could be coincidence with the size, or related to the athletes ability to compete immediately. As bad as this is going to sound, it seems like some of this is like watching horses train at the track, and then projecting what grade stake race they should run.

I like the horse comparison, and I think it is valid. That is essentially what the coaches and all of these recruiting services are doing by giving stars. They are simply saying how likely the player is to succeed at the next level given their previous exhibits. Yea, like I said, I don't know what it is, but you're doing a good job trying to figure it out. So many variables, and I guess we'll never know because we don't know what Kelly's formula is.

 

[Ironman8]

Committed to Michigan.

 

[IrishLax]

LAME! But can't blame him considering how bad their defense is he knows he will get early PT at a good school who should have a good coach once they fire RR.

 

[Irish Man3]

Michigan is quietly putting together an ok class. They are still in the mix for some solid players, and if they can hang on to what they have they should be in good shape. Im not saying anything about a top 10 class but they are recruiting well for their system. If they can keep Dee Hart from going to Bama, I can assure you we will hate facing him 4 times. The kid is a STUD.
It will be interesting to see what happens after the first of the year with Rich Rod and the coaching situation. If a change is made (Harbaugh) I expect recruiting to pick up even more.

 

[NDPhilly]

It looks like Michigan's luck has abruptly ended.

Apparently has torn ligaments in his knee and is done for the year. Huge loss. Was one of their starting Corners.

Also star LT Taylor Lewan went down with a injury yesterday. No word yet on how serious.

 

[DSully1995]

So now how does their CB situation stack up to our? (speculation since w ehavent seen much)

 

[NDPhilly]

So now how does their CB situation stack up to our? (speculation since w ehavent seen much)

JT Floyd has a lot of experience but Michigan fans don't think he's very good. Idk besides that.

 

[Ironman8]

Philly had it right, as Michigan announced this morning he tore his ACL and is out for the year.

 

[elboricua]

will be interesting to see if they come back to earth this year with the amount of luck they get in terms of injuries and turnovers. Will be interesting to see what happens with Lewan(their best Olineman for sure) and if they get any more against Air Force. Anyone know how good Air Force is this year?

 

[edgesofsanity]

will be interesting to see if they come back to earth this year with the amount of luck they get in terms of injuries and turnovers. Will be interesting to see what happens with Lewan(their best Olineman for sure) and if they get any more against Air Force. Anyone know how good Air Force is this year?

Ran for 303 yards in Saturday's game. True, against Idaho State, but not bad considering that was just the first 2 quarters. Ended up 484 on the ground.