Durante Speer has spent most of his life on the football field and around football players.
Speer’s grandfather, Eddie Sheats, played defensive line for Kansas in the early 1970s and was selected by the Washington Redskins in the 1973 NFL Draft. His father, Terrence, was a cornerback at Alabama A&M and cousin DeMario Minter is a former NFL cornerback.
But even though he’d excelled at the game, too, since the age of 5, Durante Speer wasn’t sure he’d be following in his relative’s footsteps until this past season at Columbia High School in Decatur, GA.
“After my 10th grade year, I started getting taller and I just started working out more and hitting that weight room,” Speer said. “My body started changing and my coach told me this (junior year) was going to be my breakout year.
“And it was.”
After spending two seasons as a varsity reserve behind future college players, Speer made his mark for the 9-4 Eagles in 2024. The 6-foot-2, 180-pound safety racked up 44 tackles, a sack and interception in 12 games, including a season-best six tackles and interception in a 31-6 win against McNair.
The performance caught the attention of East Carolina’s coaching staff, which dispatched new safeties coach and former Pirate star safety Damon Magazu for a face-to-face meeting on Feb. 1. Magazu offered Speer a scholarship during that visit. Speer would also eventually receive scholarship offers from Alabama A&M, Coastal Carolina, Georgia State, Kent State, Samford, Alabama-Birmingham and Tennessee-Martin.
Unofficial trips to Coastal Carolina in March and Georgia State in April were followed by Speer’s only official visit to East Carolina on June 6. He made a verbal commitment to the Pirates two days later to become part of a huge month of June that saw 18 prep players make pledges to ECU for the Class of 2025.
Speer said interactions during his official visit with Magazu, safety Dontavius Nash and tight end Desirrio Riles helped convince him ECU was the right place to continue his academic and football career.
“They made me feel like I was at home,” Speer said. “They welcomed me in. Coach Mag, he used to play there and told me it was like a family. They made me feel like a part of the family already.”
Speer began his high school career as a freshman on the varsity at Tower High in Decatur. He saw action in one game at Tower in 2021, catching a pass for three yards on offense. But following the season he opted to transfer to Columbia.
“I just felt I wasn’t getting better there (Tower),” Speer said. “So, I moved over to Columbia where I was pushed to work harder.”
With future Florida running back Jaden Baugh, South Alabama defensive back Amarion Fortenberry and others ahead of him in the Columbia secondary, Speer’s playing time was limited as a sophomore.
But he became a starter and prominent figure last season on a team that limited foes to 19.8 points a game and reached the third round of the state 2-A playoffs.
Looking ahead to his final prep season, Speer has some specific goals to achieve.
“I’ve got to get more picks,” he said. “I had only one pick last year and I didn’t like that. I’ve got to learn how to read the quarterback more.”
Speer, who also excels at track for Columbia, plans to graduate in December and enroll at ECU in January 2025. He offers this assessment of the skills he’ll be bringing to Greenville.
“I’m fast,” he said. “I can get from sideline to sideline. I’m elusive and aggressive. I’m going to come in and work hard from day one. I won’t be playing around.”
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