While others pack portal, Speed is choosing to stay

ATHENS — In a day and age when there are a thousand or so college athletes entering the transfer portal every semester, Georgia’s Ameer Speed stands tall as an exception.

You could also say that about his height. At nearly 6-foot-4, he looks anything but like a cornerback, the position he continues to play. But where he really stands out is in the fact that he has decided to stick it out at Georgia.

Five years after signing with UGA as a 4-star prospect out of Sandalwood High in Jacksonville, Florida, Speed is in position to start for the Bulldogs, or at the very least play a big role in their secondary.

“I don’t know if you’ve seen him, but he’s 6-4, 210, fast as hell and looks like he’s carved out of marble,” said Adam Geis, Speed’s high school coach. “It looks like Georgia has been getting the top corner in the country every year; good for them. But it’s where you finish, not where you start, and if Ameer has a good year, he might still play in the NFL for 10 years. Who knows? The point is, he didn’t panic.”

By all indications, Speed is as patient and mature of a college-aged kid as there has ever been. For the first time since he signed with Georgia in February 2017, coach Kirby Smart sent Speed from the locker room to talk to reporters after practice this week. Smart only does that with designated leaders and those expected to play significant roles on the team. Speed checks both boxes. With corners Eric Stokes, Tyson Campbell and D J Daniel heading into the NFL draft and Tyrique Stevenson “portaled” to Miami, Speed remains as Georgia’s only cornerback with any experience or significant knowledge of the team’s intricate defensive scheme. That still doesn’t mean he will be a starting cornerback this season. Smart reiterated that all defensive backfield positions remain “wide-open,” subject to practice-field competition.

About that, Speed seems unconcerned.

“I’m just helping my team out the best way that I can, trying to hone in on my technique and be that old guy that the young pups can lean on,” said Speed, who played in nine of the Bulldogs’ 10 games last season. “I bring good length and good speed to the defense. Also, I know the scheme very well, so those things can help me out.”

In a seven-minute interview with reporters after Tuesday night’s practice, Speed used the phrase “God’s timing” three times. He couldn’t really say why he reached the fifth year of his career without a single start, and intimated that wasn’t his job to determine anyway. That’s up to coaches. The bottom line: The Bulldogs have had some great corners matriculate ahead of him to this point, with Campbell and Stokes the latest.

“I’m blessed to be here,” Speed said. “God’s timing is different than everybody else, so I’m just here working and getting better and just waiting for that right moment where I’ll be able to step up and take my role.”

That time appears to be now. Georgia has continued to recruit at an otherworldly level in the defensive backfield. Injuries contributed, but 5-star signees Jalen Kimber and Kelee Ringo redshirted last season. Nyland Green, Javon Bullard, Kamari Lassiter and David Daniel are carrying that torch in the latest class. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs continue to scan the portal. A particularly strong candidate — cornerback Tykee Smith of West Virginia — just entered Thursday.

All the while, Speed stands at the ready. He remains confident he can get the job done, whatever that job ends up being.

“I want to know the whole secondary,” said Speed, who Georgia lists as 6-3. “I want to be able to do it all. So, anything the secondary needs, I want to drill it in because I want to be able to help at all the secondary positions. I know learning everything else will help me at my corner position and just make me better at my game.”

That’s always been Speed’s attitude, according to Geis. He said he called Speed about this time last year to ask him if he needed some help finding another place to play. No thanks, Speed said.

“He said, ‘Nah, man, I really love it up here,’ ” Geis said. “I said, ‘OK. As long as you’re enjoying your time there, you’ll be fine.’ Those are great coaches up there, and he’s on one heck of a football team. I told him just do everything they say and it all will work out.

“Some kids are impatient, but he knew the numbers and he told me flat out, ‘Coach, I think I’m going to play next year.’ It looks like it’s going to work out for the kid now and I’m really happy for him.”

Speed has played a good bit while at Georgia, just not as a regular in the secondary rotation. He’s appeared in 35 games over the last four seasons. His primary contributions have been on special teams, where he had five tackles in 2017 and 2019. But last season he played more on defense. He got extensive work in the Chick-fil-a Peach Bowl, coming on the field often in one of the Bulldogs’ third-down packages.

Speed is having to impress a new boss now. Jahmile Addae succeeded Charlton Warren as defensive backs coach after Warren became defensive coordinator at Indiana. “He’s a real good dude,” Speed said of Addae. “I love his energy. He hones in on technique and the little things that help us master what we do and how to really be elite.”