After over seven months of questions, the Rod Bullard Jr. saga is finally over. The senior wide receiver has been ruled eligible to play for Michigan State football this season.
The wide receiver, a Valdosta State transfer, had appealed for an extra season of eligibility after the NCAA called his part-time status as a student in 2021 as expending a year of eligibility, despite the receiver not being a full-time student, nor with Valdosta’s football team.
In what should have been a cut-and-dry case, the NCAA waited until Rod Bullard applied for a temporary restraining order against the sanctioning body to rule on it. With a court date set for Thursday, one that captain Jordan Hall said would have the whole team come out for, the NCAA made the ruling prior to Monday’s practice beginning and shared it with Bullard and head coach Pat Fitzgerald. The head coach had also gotten Bullard’s father on the phone when he broke the news.
“The team gathered around me when it actually happened,” Bullard said. “This morning, during stretch lines, they came out and let me know and the team was just as excited, and we got back to work.”
Bullard and the entire team were ecstatic, as to be expected, with the receiver revealing that captain Kenny Soares Jr. had knocked off the pass catcher’s helmet while jumping around and slapping him on the helmet in celebration.
The assured addition of Bullard is a huge boost to the team, as the receiver room has the most questions of an offensive position for Michigan State football.
Bullard returns 5 catches from last season, four of which came in against Minnesota. With McCray out of the lineup, Bullard hauled in his four catches for over 100 yards and a touchdown in Alessio Milivojevic’s first career start. Despite that output, Bullard was back on the bench, only recording 15 snaps on offense the rest of the season.
Now, however, with Nick Marsh and Evan Boyd transferring out alongside Omari Kelly graduating, Bullard is set for a starting role alongside McCray.
Bullard has routinely gotten praise from coaches, teammates, and his quarterback.
“I mean, it’s awesome,” Alessio Milivojevic said. “Rod is an amazing player, he’s made a lot of great plays throughout spring, throughout fall, and in the summer. It’s just awesome to see a guy who’s really worked, he’s worked so hard throughout the year without even knowing if he was certainly going to play. It’s awesome to see. I’m proud of him, happy for him, excited to play with him this year.”
When asked how this impacts the offense heading into the season, Alessio Milivojevic kept it short, but the impact that Rod Bullard being back was undeniable.
“Huge (impact on the offense). He’s a difference-maker,” Milivojevic said without hesitation.
