Michigan State, Max Bullough get in early on rising LB in 2028 class

It’s hard to believe that we’re about 3.5 months away from the official start of the Pat Fitzgerald era. Michigan State fans are excited to see what improvements have come this offseason and how the new coordinators look in their roles.

One of the coordinators that will have everyone’s attention is Max Bullough and he’s already been one of the topics of conversation around the football program this offseason.

Bullough was poached from Notre Dame where he was linebackers coach for a team that played for a national title in 2024 and he’s now returning home to his alma mater that he helped take to new heights under Mark Dantonio. He’ll get to take what he learned from Dantonio, his time in the NFL, and Marcus Freeman and put it into action in East Lansing as the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach.

So far, he’s been pretty effective. He’s gotten some key players like Jordan Hall and Brady Pretzlaff to return and he did a decent job in the transfer portal.

Bullough has been working on the 2027 class for the past couple of months and he’s apparently already got his sights set on 2028. Obviously the 2027 class is priority, but he’s looking to get in early on some of the best linebackers in the 2028 cycle, including one that was just offered by Bullough and the Spartans over the weekend.

Brodie Metzger, who’s currently unranked but rising quickly, was offered by Michigan State over the weekend, following up an offer from Penn State a day earlier.

Since April 18, Metzger has been on fire, receiving offers from Iowa, Iowa State, Minnesota, Illinois, Penn State, and now the Spartans. He’s clearly got the look of a Big Ten linebacker because all of those gritty programs from the conference are reaching out and pursuing him.

The unranked 2028 linebackers is from Hills, Minn.

Bullough would do wonders for this talented linebacker.

Recruiting should be a breeze for Max Bullough

While he was at Notre Dame, Bullough landed some big fish in recruiting and it’s because of his resume as a player. Well, that and the unlimited resources that Notre Dame offers.

At Michigan State, he’s going to need to rely on that player resume early on to garner interest from some recruits because of the lack of success that the Spartans have had in the years leading up to his hiring. Once he proves that he can get linebackers to the league because of his extremely high football IQ, recruiting is going to be an absolute breeze for Bullough — it already should be.

What top linebacker recruits are going to see a former All-American linebacker who Mike Vrabel once called the smartest player that he’s ever coached and say “no thanks” to getting coached by him? If you want to make it to the league, playing for Bullough makes a ton of sense.

The new co-defensive coordinator is going to need some early results, but I’ll bet that linebacker will be one of the easiest positions to recruit in East Lansing while he’s there.

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