but he had to pass the physical with Paul "Schmidty" Schmidt, who had been a trainer since Jordan's father Lou had played and been on the coaching staff at Michigan. He had had surgery to repair cartilage damage in high school, but that did not alleviate his problems. When Jordan responded yes to a question about whether he had had any surgeries in the prior 12 months, it triggered a line of questioning about his senior season meniscus surgery. He did not make the 2008 Wolverines due to a knee problem, but was advised to try out again after his knee healed. After discovering a torn meniscus, he had a second knee surgery, which was successful. He attended every game that season in his family's season ticket section. Freshman (2009) In 2009, he was one of the most highly regarded walk-ons in the nation, and emerged from a group of Michigan football players who referred to themselves as "The Walk-On Nation". His debut on September 5 against the Western Michigan was on special teams. The following week, he registered 31 plays against Notre Dame after starting safety Michael Williams suffered leg cramps. He made his first start on September 26 against Indiana. On October 3 of that season, he had 17 tackles against Michigan State in the annual Paul Bunyan Trophy. He posted ten tackles and made his first career interception on November 14 against Wisconsin. That season, he played free safety before being switched to strong safety. He started one game at free safety and seven at strong safety over the course of the season. He finished the season as the second leading tackler for the 2009 Wolverines. He earned 2009 CollegeFootballNews.com Freshman All-America second team recognition and 2009 Sporting News Freshman All-Big Ten honors. He was also a Rudy Award candidate. Sophomore (2010) Kovacs earned a scholarship at the beginning of the 2010 NCAA Division I FBS football season. In the second game of the season on September 11 against Notre Dame in the Michigan – Notre Dame football rivalry game, Kovacs recorded his first interception of the season and second of his career as part of a 10-tackle effort. On October 16 he recorded 2.5 tackles for a loss against Iowa. After eight games in the 2010 season he ranked second in the Big Ten Conference in tackles. On November 18, he was nominated for the Burlsworth