Fall camp has entered its third week and Jonathan Smith seems pleased with what he's seen thus far.
Michigan State did hold its first scrimmage of the fall over the weekend and while there wasn't much that came from it, stats wise, Smith told the media that there were some standouts during the first true live action. He praised freshman tight end Jayden Savoury, which was a pleasant surprise, but the next name he brought up probably wasn't on anyone's radar: Marcellius Pulliam.
The third-year linebacker who transferred over from Miami before the 2024 season didn't see much action outside of special teams last year, but it sounds like he could be in the regular rotation in 2025.
According to Smith, Pulliam had a good scrimmage and was one of the standouts.
Jonathan Smith: “Marcellius Pulliam had a nice scrimmage, played at a high level. The whole inside backer room, too.”
— Emmett Matasovsky (@E_Matasovsky57) August 11, 2025
To earn a special shoutout like that from Smith had to mean that Pulliam was all over the field making plays during the team's first fall scrimmage. He had to be one of the best players on the field to earn a standout shoutout from his head coach.
This would be a nice development because while the Spartans do have some talented linebackers like Jordan Hall, Wayne Matthews, Darius Snow, and Brady Pretzlaff who was praised earlier in camp by teammates, depth is important. The depth in the linebacker room could tell us a lot about what to expect from the defensive side of the ball, so if Pulliam is playing at a high level, that just takes pressure off the entire unit. That adds another quality depth piece.
There's a reason Pulliam had offers from the likes of Miami, Clemson, Kentucky, Missouri, and Auburn coming out of high school -- this dude has some serious potential.