Time at the position was split between Avery, sophomore Raymon Taylor and true freshman Terry Richardson in Michigan's loss to Alabama. Avery was burned on an early play by Alabama wide receiver DeAndrew White, giving the Tide a touchdown and making it 14-0.
Avery, a junior, played corner for the Wolverines in 12 games in the 2011 season, including three starts. He finished the season with 26 tackles, .5 sacks, four passes broken up, two fumble recoveries, one fumble forced and tied for the team lead with two interceptions. The highlight of his season was undoubtedly the last-minute interception vs. Ohio State, sealing Michigan's first victory against its rivals since 2003.
Not only did the Michigan Wolverines take a beating on Saturday against the Alabama Crimson Tide, they lost an incredibly talented player to injury. The official Michigan Football twitter account hammers home just how serious the injury is: cornerback Blake Countess will miss the remainder of the season with a torn ACL.
Head football coach Brady Hoke held a conference on Monday and spoke on the injury. According to Michael Rothstein on Twitter, Countess will have surgery sometime in the next two weeks to repair the ligament. Recovery from an ACL injury is always a long and arduous process, with players almost always being out for the entire season. Many times, players never regain the same quickness or burst they had prior to the injury.
All they can do now is look ahead and see what they can do about replacing him. It was previously speculated on here as to who will be his replacement, but now it's known that Courtney Avery is listed as the starting corner in place of Countess, according to Kyle Meinke, also via Twitter.
There's a chance the snap count will go up for guys like sophomore Ramon Taylor and true freshman Terry Richardson, as well. Saturday also saw the Wolverines move some guys from safety to the nickel corner slot, which is something that we may see more of as well.
Michigan has some depth to work with at corner but that doesn't mean that he's replaceable. He's the best cover man the Wolverines have and the sledding will only get tougher without him.
The most likely replacements for Countess are junior Courtney Avery, sophomore Ramon Taylor and true freshman Terry Richardson. The Wolverines also experimented on Saturday night with moving safeties Jarrod Wilson and Thomas Gordon into the nickelback slot.
Michigan will have a few weeks in practice to work out the kinks in the secondary rotation. Their next opponent, the Air Force Falcons, features a run-heavy option offense.
