He leapt through the air, trying to do something to disrupt Jimmy Clausen’s swing pass to Golden Tate.

And Stevie Brown barely missed getting his hands on the ball, barely missed having a sure interception and a chance to extend Michigan’s lead in a game that ended with the Wolverines upsetting Notre Dame 38-34. It’s about all Brown has done wrong this season.

“I went to get my hands up,” Brown said. “A split-second, I could have picked it.”

A year ago, Brown was a safety, part of a maligned Michigan defense with the senior as a poster boy for criticism during the Wolverines’ 3-9 season. He said he never read it, barely watches "SportsCenter," and tries to avoid anything that might have his name attached to it.

Said he always has.

So that’s why he doesn’t feel like this move to outside linebacker is a way of proving those people wrong and proving that he is a more than capable football player.

Even though that’s exactly what he’s doing.

“He’s one guy you can always count on,” Michigan safety Troy Woolfolk said.

When he was initially approached about the move, Brown called his father, George. The two talk often and discuss a lot of his football decisions.

And George made a point - when Brown was closer to the line of scrimmage throughout his career, he made more plays. He’d always been more effective that way. Brown’s speed, something that was overshadowed when he was playing safety.

“It was not a bad move,” George said while waiting for Stevie after Michigan’s 38-34 win over Notre Dame. “He was one of the speediest middle guys since he moved down. That was one big thing, he’s not running with the faster guys. He’s running with the middle group.”

George told Stevie that. He thought about it. And he agreed. Plus, he’d be coached directly by defensive coordinator Greg Robinson.

In the first two games, under Robinson’s tutelage and in his defense, he’s been everywhere. Brown had six tackles Saturday, two of them for losses. He also forced a fumble that Michigan recovered. And then there was the just-missed interception, which ended up as an incomplete pass. Even Brown found it funny that everywhere a play was to be made, Brown seemed in the middle of it.

“It does seem to happen like that,” Brown said. “They always told me it would happen like that.”

It has. And after he helped beat Notre Dame, finishing his career 3-1 against the school he almost went to, a large smile creased his face.

His parents waited for him. Stevie Brown, the guy who people ridiculed a year ago, was happy. Moving down was the best possible thing that could happen to him, to his career.

Said George: “He’s loving it.”

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan sports for Annarbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow on Twitter @mikerothstein.