Georgia transfer Ameer Speed: Michigan State is ‘close’ to competing for a national championship
As Michigan State prepares for its third season under the direction of Mel Tucker, expectations for the program continue to skyrocket. The head football coach has already stated that the Spartans are aiming higher than their 11-2 finish in 2021, and it’s clear that the program is striving for championships.
One player on MSU’s 2022 roster that is familiar with competing for championships is cornerback Ameer Speed, who transferred to Michigan State after graduating from Georgia last year. The Bulldogs fell to Alabama in the SEC Championship game, but avenged that loss by knocking off the Crimson Tide in the national championship.
One week into spring practice at Michigan State, Speed said the Spartans are capable of reaching a College Football Playoff and playing for a title themselves.
“I think we’re close,” Speed said. “We’ve brought in some people more to help. We had a very good season last year, so I think the pieces are coming together. We’ve just got to put them together.”
Speed has already started sharing his experience of playing for a national championship with his new teammates.
“A lot of people are like, ‘Dang, you went to the natty.’ And I’m like, ‘Shoot, let’s do it again,” Speed said. “Why not do it again? I just feel like it’s a mindset. I was telling them, you’ve got to think, you’ve got to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to the national championship.’ Last year, at Georgia, we had that in our heads like this time last year – ‘We’re going to the national championship’. So, I feel like that’s what you have to do now. You’ve got to put that in your heads and tell yourself that we can do this.”
Hearing that must be music to Tucker’s ears – the head coach has preached about having a ‘relentless’ mindset since the day he stepped foot in East Lansing. Now, he’s got one of his new players spreading the same message around the practice field.
“We’ve got to play like it, build like it – it’s more than just physical-ness, you’ve got to speak national championship. You’ve got to believe it too, so I think that with the culture we’re building, the people we brought in, we can do it.”
Obviously, winning college football’s grandest prize won’t come easily. Former head coach Mark Dantonio proved that Big Ten titles are within reach for Michigan State – he won three of them in 13 years – but the Spartans have not won a national championship since 1966.
In fact, since the sport shifted to the Bowl Championship Series in 1998, and then to the College Football Playoff in 2014, the only Big Ten program that has won national championships is Ohio State (2002, 2014).
In that time frame, the Southeastern Conference has won 14 national championships, with six different SEC schools claiming college football’s top crown.
Asked about the talent gap between the SEC and Big Ten schools, Speed didn’t waver in his belief in Michigan State.
“I wanted to go somewhere where there was going to be good competition. I know that the SEC and Big Ten are right here,” Speed said, making a level plane gesture with his hands. “I feel like it wouldn’t be too far off with competition. I want to be able to get the best work I can, because I know it’s only going to get harder from there. So, I feel like this wasn’t too far off. We’re really right there.”
Tucker brought SEC experience with him to East Lansing as well, having worked under Alabama’s Nick Saban and Georgia Kirby Smart. Just a week into practices, Speed can see the similarities of Tucker’s practices to those in the Deep South.
“Really, just the consistency and the work ethic and the details in everything,” Speed said. “Like, I feel like details are the main part of getting where you want to be and being where you want to be. Because you’ve got to put details into how you do things, why you do things and when you do things. That was one of the main things I enjoyed and why I like being here at this program, because it’s not too much of a difference.”
The 2022 season is just getting started, and there’s a lot of work to do between now and the season opener against Western Michigan on Sept. 3, but once again, Tucker has assembled the pieces that Michigan State needs to compete at the highest level.
When it comes to a run at a national championship, players like Speed have the Spartans thinking, ‘Why not us?’
