Michigan State football lands promising Miami LB transfer

Michigan State football has landed one of the more promising young linebackers in the transfer portal in Marcellius Pulliam.

If you thought Jonathan Smith was going to sit back and let the Michigan State football roster fizzle away into nothingness without addressing some needs in the transfer portal, you were sadly mistaken.

The first-year head coach has been active in the transfer portal and it doesn’t look like that’s going to change any time soon.

On Friday, Smith landed a commitment from Miami freshman linebacker Marcellius Pulliam. He appeared in 10 games this past season for the Hurricanes, recording just one tackle and an interception.

I’m coming HOME🟢⚪️@JoeS_Rossi @Coach_Smith #GoGreen pic.twitter.com/XSMWBSb8b4

— Marcellius Pulliam (@MarcelliusP8) May 10, 2024

The Georgia-native played primarily special teams this past season, but there were hopes that he would develop into a future star on defense. He was a three-star in the 2023 class, rated an 87 overall by 247Sports and he was listed as one of the top 100 linebackers in the country. While he’s not exactly a blue-chipper, he has the potential to be a really solid linebacker at the Power Four level.

Out of high school, he had a decent offer list that included Louisville, Mississippi State, Auburn, Clemson, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, and Virginia Tech. He was one of the top inside linebackers in the class but played sparingly in 2023.

Although he won’t be able to utilize 2023 as a redshirt season, he’s going to join a group of linebackers in East Lansing that will help him acclimate quickly and I wouldn’t be shocked to see him on the two-deep this fall. He had just one tackle and an interception last season and he’s going to get more of an opportunity on a rebuilding roster with Michigan State football.

I really like how the linebacker room is coming together with Jordan Hall, Jordan Turner, Wayne Matthews III, Darius Snow, Cal Haladay, and Aaron Alexander. Throw Pulliam in there and you have a really solid rotation.