Kentucky appears close to finding transfer portal help at cornerback

Kentucky needs to bolster its secondary before the 2022 season arrives. Colorado’s Mekhi Blackmon and Georgia’s Ameer Speed are two players the Big Blue Nation should get familiar with.

On Wednesday, KSR’s Matt Jones reported that both Blackmon and Speed could become additions for the Kentucky secondary. Now it’s time to do our research on each.

KSR’s transfer portal department has been tracking names and accumulating scouting reports for numerous players that have decided to move on from their current school. Both Mekhi Blackmon and Ameer Speed appear to be scheme fits for Brad White’s defense.

Mekhi Blackmon is another junior college cornerback

Hailing from California, Mekhi Blackmon began his playing career after college with the College of San Mateo. After just one season in junior college, the six-foot and 175-pound cornerback would stay in the Pac-12 footprint to play for Colorado.

While in Boulder, Blackmon played for Mike MacIntyre, Mel Tucker, and Karl Dorrell in his four seasons in the Pac-12 South. After starting three of the final four games of the season in 2018, Blackmon became a full-time starter in 2019.

However, the junior college product played just four games and took a redshirt season due to a shoulder injury in 2019. Blackmon returned in 2020 as a redshirt junior and started six games while playing 403 snaps in a shortened COVID-19 season. Blackmon finished that year with 16 tackles and five interceptions/pass breakups.

As a redshirt senior, Blackmon played in eight games logging over 500 snaps and recording a productive 41 tackles with five interceptions/pass breakups in 2021. On Saturday, Blackmon announced his intentions to join the transfer portal joining fellow Colorado defensive back Christian Gonzalez who just committed to Oregon.

Blackmon has experience playing both outside cornerback and nickel in Colorado’s scheme. The veteran has learned multiple defenses in his career and has shown some legitimate ball production combined with tackling ability over the last two seasons.

The former junior college product will be a super senior with just one year of eligibility remaining in 2022. Blackmon has the coverage ability and speed to play field cornerback in Kentucky’s scheme.

The Wildcats have had a ton of success with junior college cornerbacks under Mark Stoops.

Ameer Speed brings SEC experience and length to the table

Ameer Speed was a four-star prospect in the class of 2017 out of Jacksonville (Fla.) Sandalwood who committed to Georgia over Alabama, Oregon, and North Carolina shortly after Kirby Smart’s first season in Athens came to a close.

Speed was buckled in for the entire ride as the Bulldogs powered their way to a national championship in 2021. The 6-3, 211-pound cornerback played in 18 games during his five-year run at UGA and was an excellent special teams performer.

Speed started the first three games for Georgia in 2021 before five-star recruits Derion Kendrick and Kelee Ringo took over the positions. In total, Speed played 181 snaps and recorded 13 tackles.

For his career, Speed has shown little ball production (one career pass breakup) in Georgia’s man-heavy scheme, but that is not what Kentucky will require in Lexington. With size and long arms, Speed seems to have the traits to provide Mark Stoops with a big boundary cornerback that can be physical off the line and cover a lot of ground in zone drops.

Kentucky has scholarship capital available

After the recent returnee announcement, Kentucky is currently sitting on 82 distributed scholarships. The Wildcats are still waiting for left tackle Dare Rosenthal to make a decision, and Tyrell Ajian feels like a potential super senior addition.

Getting to that 85 max numbers is the ultimate goal, and adding both Mekhi Blackmon and Ameer Speed would help accomplish that mission. However, it’s important to remember that more attrition will happen. After spring practice, Kentucky will likely have a few more players enter the transfer portal. So the Wildcats likely can afford to go over that total of 85 right now expecting the problem to fix itself later.

In the cornerback room, the Wildcats currently have seven scholarship players. Kentucky needs junior Carrington Valentine to make a big jump after his first year starting, and junior college transfer Zah Frazier brings some traits to the table. However, help is needed.

Both Mekhi Blackmon and Ameer Speed would be super seniors in 2022. Each could help provide a stopgap as Kentucky figures out what the program’s long-term solution will be at cornerback.