Michigan State football lands Nebraska DL transfer Ru’Quan Buckley

Michigan State football has landed Nebraska defensive line transfer Ru’Quan Buckley on Monday afternoon, the second commitment of the day.

For the second time on Monday, Michigan State football has landed a transfer on the defensive line.

The first was Tyler Gillison, a sophomore edge rusher from Cincinnati and younger brother of former Spartan Trenton Gillison. And shortly after, Nebraska defensive line transfer Ru’Quan Buckley picked the Spartans.

BREAKING: #MichiganState lands transfer DT Ru’Quan Buckley from #Nebraska.

The 6-foot-5, 295lb Michigan native heavily considered MSU in the 2021 cycle.

He played in 8 games for the Huskers in 2023 & has two years of eligibility left.

Quotes (FREE): https://t.co/Axtg7fFcOn pic.twitter.com/q7s09QKo12

— Justin Thind (@JustinThind) May 6, 2024

Like Gillison, Buckley fills an immediate need along the defensive line. He may be even more necessary with the major departures of Simeon Barrow and Derrick Harmon on the interior. There’s very little depth on the interior of the defensive line and the 6-foot-5, 295-pound Buckley will help that.

Buckley should sound familiar to Spartan fans because he was actually recruited by Mel Tucker back in the 2021 class before he picked Scott Frost and the Cornhuskers. Little did he know that neither of those coaches would last past the third week of the 2023 season. The Spartans were heavily involved in his high school recruitment as he’s from Wyoming, Mich., and he’ll head back home to wrap up his collegiate career (hopefully).

The 295-pound defensive lineman played in just nine career games for the Cornhuskers and accounted for just two total tackles. He played sparingly but did appear in eight games this past season. If he can buy in and take in this upgraded coaching, he should be able to develop into a solid rotational piece.

Buckley already has the frame that’s desired for the interior, so we’ll see if he can match that with production.

Jonathan Smith is still working on that defensive line after losing two starters and two second-year players who were top-150 recruits in the 2023 class. He’ll likely be adding more pieces from the portal on the line in the coming month. Or at least he should.