Want a daily lap through Georgia football recruiting? That’s what the Intel will bring at least five days a week. We’ll cover the news and which way this 4-star or 5-star might lean plus add some perspective to help fans figure out what it all means.
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Obvious pun alert: Georgia fans will feel the need for Speed around 8:21 a.m. on National Signing Day.
That’s because 3-star cornerback Ameer Speed sounds like he’s on his way to Georgia. That seems clear given the way Sandalwood (Fla.) coach Adam Geis unabashedly answered a question about where he stands.
Geis got after it the same way he coaches his cornerbacks to dog receivers. He jammed that topic up right off the bat.
“I’m guessing he has already let the school know where he is going,” Geis said. “If it is not Georgia, then I’d be shocked.”
The uncommon reply warranted a quick status check. When asked if he wanted to keep that in the can, Geis said he was good with sharing that this close to Signing Day.
“I’m fine with that,” Geis said. “Georgia has done an absolutely outstanding job recruiting him from the get-go. Both the guys that have been on him hard have been outstanding. Coach (Glenn) Schumann and (UGA defensive coordinator) Mel Tucker have been great from the get-go. They let him know they had a scholarship and offered him and have stayed on him hard the whole way. They’ve done a great job. That’s why I’d be shocked if he went anywhere else.”
Geis felt a Big 10 team would be the other worthy choice.
“If I had to guess the number two I would think it would be Michigan State,” he said. “They have done a great job as well. That’s another great program but when it comes down to it I think (Georgia) is a SEC (school) that is maybe four hours away. You can’t beat that, right?”
Elite size. Elite speed. Elite strength
With height, some coaches oversell their guys. Not this time. Geis said that Speed will measure at least 6 feet, 3 inches with his heels on the ground and a straight back. That’s NFL combine style.
“He’s 6-foot-3 plus and about 195 pounds,” he said. “He’s also very strong. I mean Ameer lifts. Before we started fall ball, he hit 315 pounds (on the bench press) for the first time. He’s not one of the corners that will sneak out the back of the weight room.”
His scouting evaluation is that he’s a cornerback. That’s his style and mentality. His elite size and length but will not trend toward a future at safety anytime soon.
“He’s Richard Sherman-style at cornerback,” Geis said. “Very tall. Very long corner. He could probably outrun Richard Sherman right now to tell you the truth. Ameer is a fast kid. He’s a sub-10.6 kid in the 100 meters, man. He’s about as close to a can’t miss recruit as there is in college football.”
Geis said that Speed runs that time on a laser, too. That’s not hand-timed.
More Intel on Speed
Speed is rated as a 3-star recruit and the nation’s No. 41 CB but his offer sheet indicates a higher ceiling. Alabama’s Nick Saban came to see him late. That indicates more value than a No. 354 overall prospect ranking might convey.
There’s a reason for that. By and large, the players at Sandalwood are not encouraged to attend the Rivals.com and 247sports.com prospect camps. They will go to the team camps, though.
“If they do, then they do it on their own and with me advising them not too,” Geis said. “A lot of times these kids are not ready to go to these things and they are not ready to run these 40s. You can take a 4.55 kid and he has a bad day in February or March and it is still a little cold and then he runs a 4.8 and then it is like ‘Okay, this kid is not fast anymore’ with what everyone is then saying. We just let our film do the talking. That’s what matters.”
Geis feels that Speed should have a higher rating, but also noted that the offer sheet is more important than any stars.
Georgia also faces Florida every year in Jacksonville. So that potential decision would allow Speed to play in front of the home fans every season. Geis said that didn’t even come up. Neither did any connection to the Bulldogs from that annual game.
“His mother pretty much told him she’d try to go to his games regardless,” Geis said. “That really never came up. That’s interesting but no. I think at Georgia she could theoretically drive up for an early morning game and be back home by 9 o’clock at night if she had to. It is not that hard of a drive.”
Geis also said there would be no academic issues whatsoever to think of. He said that Speed had a “high ACT” with “above-average” grades.
The latest on Larrell Murchison
Did you see DawgNation’s latest update on 3-star junior college DT Larrell Murchison? I tried an alternative story format with that post last night.
The 6-foot-4, 285-pounder said he was still committed to Ole Miss but also felt his decision was “50-50” between Georgia and that school at that time.
What I tried to do there was to replicate what Murchison was going to actually do on a piece of paper with his junior college coaches as he noted the “pros and cons” for each school and went about deciding his choice.
There was also one piece of information he shared that I saved for this morning’s blog. Murchison made sure that he could wear No. 92 on his official visit to Georgia. He said he didn’t ask that question at Ole Miss on his official visit.
If you think that jersey numbers matter to players, then that might be a significant nugget. Georgia fans would likely see it that fan. Ole Miss fans would likely extrapolate he loves being in Oxford so much he doesn’t care which number he has on.
I think that both opportunity and location will be driving factors here. Murchison is only five hours away from his North Carolina home in Athens. That distance doubles if he signs with Ole Miss.
That post also touched on Kirby Smart’s perceived value for him. He also said the thought of NCAA sanctions at Ole Miss was also weighing on his mind.
The Louisburg College standout was set to make his decision last night and inform both coaching staffs by this morning at the latest.