EAST LANSING, Mich—Michigan State football has remained heavily invested in the transfer portal, with another announcement coming via Twitter Tuesday afternoon that Georgia graduate transfer defensive back Ameer Speed would be heading to East Lansing to reunite with head coach Mel Tucker.

Keep choppin 🪓✅ pic.twitter.com/iWJmJtE2LT

— Ameer Speed (@OG__speed) January 18, 2022

Speed, a 6-foot-3 corner, is head coach Mel Tucker’s fifth commitment via the transfer portal alongside running back Jalen Berger (Wisconsin), linebacker Jacoby Windmon (UNLV), linebacker Aaron Brule (Mississippi State), and defensive end Khris Bogle (Florida). Speed’s commitment marks the third transfer commitment Tucker has received from a former SEC conference player.

Speed played high school football at Sandalwood, located in Jacksonville, Florida. He was rated as a three-star by 247Sports, slotting in at the No. 356 spot nationally for the class of 2017. That national ranking also placed him as the No. 42 overall cornerback and the No. 44 player from the state of Florida within the 2017 class. 

He racked up a total of 38 Division I offers from the likes of Georgia, Oregon, Auburn, Michigan, Notre Dame, Tennessee, USC, Ole Miss, Iowa State, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia Tech, Florida State and MSU.

During his time at Georgia, Speed played under former Bulldog defensive coordinator and Spartan head coach Mel Tucker from 2017-18. Overall, he played in 48 games recording 25 tackles and one pass defended. Speed started in Georgia’s first three games this season, recording a pair of tackles in Georgia’s wins over then No. 3 Clemson and again in wins over South Carolina and Georgia Tech. He appeared in 13 out of Georgia’s 15 games this season. 

Speed announced his intention to transfer away from Georgia via Twitter on Jan. 11, one day after the Bulldogs National Championship win on Jan. 10. Speed received interest from numerous schools during his time in the transfer portal,with Michigan State and Kentucky the two finalists. 

Speed’s announcement comes as the Spartans try to shore up a secondary that allowed more passing yards per game (324.8) than any other team in the country. MSU is set to return seemingly the entire defensive backfield, including corners Ronald Williams, Charles Brantley, Marqui Lowery Jr, Chester Kimbrough and starting safeties Xavier Henderson, Angelo Grose and Darius Snow. 

Williams, Brantley, Lowery and Kimbrough all started for MSU at corner during various points of the 2021-22 season.