Michigan State adds Georgia graduate transfer defensive back Ameer Speed for 2022 season

Mel Tucker and the Michigan State football coaching staff have picked up another strong player via the transfer portal, as former Georgia defensive back Ameer Speed is heading to East Lansing for the 2022 season.

Speed, listed at 6-foot-3 and 211 pounds, is a graduate transfer with one year of eligibility remaining. He spent the past five seasons with the Georgia Bulldogs where he played in 48 total games, according to the University of Georgia’s official stats. Speed recorded 25 total tackles with one pass defended during his time in Athens.

Most recently, Speed started three games and played in 13 of the 15 contests in Georgia’s national championship-winning season during the 2021-2022 campaign. He compiled 13 total tackles, including seven solo stops. The Bulldogs ranked No. 1 in the country in scoring defense and No. 2 in total defense.

According to SpartanTailgate.com, Speed, as a graduate transfer, is eligible to enroll for the spring semester and is expected to compete during spring practices.

Speed was a three-star prospect in Georgia’s 2017 signing class — which ranked No. 3 nationally that year — out of Sandalwood High School in Jacksonville, Florida. He was ranked as the No. 42 cornerback, No. 44 player in the state of Florida and the No. 356 player nationally in 2017. Speed had nearly 40 total scholarship offers out of high school.

When Speed signed with the Bulldogs in 2017, Georgia’s defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach just so happened to be Tucker, so the two already have a relationship. Tucker stayed in that role for the 2018 season as well before taking the head coaching job at Colorado in 2019.

Speed now makes five transfer portal additions for the Spartans for the 2022 season. He joins Wisconsin running back Jalen Berger, UNLV linebacker Jacoby Windmon, Mississippi State linebacker Aaron Brule and Florida defensive end Khris Bogle.