Michigan State football hosting Nebraska DL transfer Ru’Quan Buckley

Michigan State football will be hosting Nebraska defensive line transfer Ru’Quan Buckley for an official visit this weekend.

East Lansing has been a revolving door for defensive linemen this week and that’s not changing any time soon, it seems. Michigan State football lost Brandon Lane after he committed a week ago and Derrick Harmon and Simeon Barrow picked new schools on Friday.

On top of that, Bai Jobe and Andrew Depaepe entered the transfer portal as well.

Jonathan Smith is trying to address the needs up front in the portal and he’s turning to a Grand Valley transfer as well as another from Nebraska, according to Allen Trieu.

Nebraska DL transfer Ru’Quan Buckley is taking an official visit to Michigan State beginning tomorrow.

He is a Grand Rapids native. (VIP)https://t.co/klFKLPeac1

— Allen Trieu (@AllenTrieu) May 4, 2024

Ru’Quan Buckley is a native of Grand Rapids and he’ll be on campus this weekend, according to Trieu. He’s been at Nebraska since 2021 and has appeared in just nine games with two total tackles. While he doesn’t have a ton of production to his name, he’s looking for a fresh start somewhere else, so why not move back home to lead a Spartan defensive line that needs bodies?

As a recruit in 2021, Buckley was the No. 543 recruit in the nation and Michigan’s 14th-best prospect, per 247Sports. He actually held an offer from the Spartans and was being recruited by offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic.

The 6-foot-5, 295-pound lineman from Grand Rapids chose the Cornhuskers and then-head coach Scott Frost but decided to enter the portal after 2024 spring ball. He wasn’t seeing the field as much as he would’ve liked and a change of scenery could fix that. East Lansing would be a good spot for him to compete for playing time as Smith continues to build his roster.

As mentioned earlier, Michigan State football is also hosting GVSU transfer Jay’viar Suggs this weekend so getting either one of those guys to commit would be massive. It wouldn’t make up for the recent losses (Harmon, Barrow, Jobe, Depaepe, Lane), but it would be a good start.