Alabama coach Nick Saban came to see Ameer Speed late during his recruiting process. The 6-foot-3 cornerback also toyed with the idea of taking his final official visit to Tuscaloosa.
That doesn’t seem by the last-minute decisions necessary for the nation’s No. 41 cornerback.
Speed, one of the most in-demand 3-star prospects in the Class of 2017, revealed his college plans on National Signing Day at 8:15 a.m ET at a school ceremony with the other members of his Sandalwood High team in Jacksonville, Fla. He committed to Georgia over Michigan State, Oregon and Virginia Tech.
Speed shared a very interesting photo on the Tuesday prior to National Signing Day this week. Instead of taking that last official visit to Tuscaloosa, he took a late trip to Oregon to check out that program and their new coaching staff.
Here are three things to know about Speed ahead of his decision.
1. He has 38 scholarship offers
Speed’s offer list includes a lot of heavyweight schools. So while that No. 41 national ranking might seem low his college options should not. According to his 247Sports player page, his first scholarship offer came from Colorado back on Nov. 22, 2015.
He used his first official visit to see Michigan State on Oct. 28. Speed then went to see Virginia Tech on Dec.. 10 followed by North Carolina on Jan. 13, Georgia on Jan. 20 and finally Oregon on Jan. 27.
Sandalwood doesn’t believe in sending its players to the exposure and showcase camps offered by recruiting services like Rivals and 247Sports. If he did attend those events, then his national rankings would likely have been significantly higher.
2. Uncommon size and speed
Adam Geis, Speed’s high school coach, compared him to a current NFL All-Pro in Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman. He said if the senior cornerback was measured NFL combine style with his back straight, shoes off and heels to the ground that he would be every bit of 6-foot-3 with room to spare.
He also told DawgNation that Speed weighs 195 pounds and was able to bench press 315 pounds this fall prior to his senior season. Geis also said that Speed is blessed with uncommon speed for that size.
According to his head coach, he said that Speed has been laser time in the 100 meters in less than 10.6 seconds.
3. He’s very hard to reach on the phone
Speed played very little in high school during his freshman and sophomore years because of injuries but when he was on the field he immediately became an impact player. He quickly attracted college attention, but it was to the extent that he was also very hard to reach.
It was hard to reach him by phone.
A member of the Sandalwood saw an opportunity to rectify that situation when Speed needed a new cell phone. He offered to replace that phone in exchange for him always making sure to answer his calls and text message when he was needed.
