Michigan State Super Star MLB Max Bullough Takes You Inside Spartan Football
Max Bullough recently spoke with the national media to discuss MSU football and more. As always Bullough had some great thoughts on his program and the direction it is going. Here is that interview.
A: Spring ball’s been good. We’ve had a lot of tough practices, a lot of live situations like Coach D was saying. I think guys have been competing, guys have been stepping up in different areas. I think our defense is where it needs to be for where it is right now in this part of the year and we’re moving forward. Trying to get some more turnovers on defense and the offense has been playing better.
Q: Have you thought at all in your time at Michigan State about your legacy? And if so, what do you want your Spartan legacy to be?
A: Well, I think I have the luxury of being part of the long history of Michigan State Spartans, whether it’s my dad, my grandpa, my uncle, whoever that might be. But in terms of myself, I think I’d just like to add to that legacy that people can be proud of and my family can be proud of. As far as personally, I just wanna be a guy that was a great football player, a guy that was never gonna quit, a guy that was there for his teammates, a good leader and a person that was Michigan State until the day he left.
Q: Do you feel like there’s enough of a mentality and commitment in your program now to always be improving? And how do you lead to keep away from complacency?
A: I think you should look at it that we’ve got a pretty good defense, it’s kinda hard to argue that I guess the last couple of years. There’s things you can breakdown…there’s millions of different ways to break down. That’s how a genius makes their living. So there’s things that you can pinpoint whether that’s… I’ll tell you one thing is we need to get more turnovers, right off the top of my head that’s one thing. And more sacks, more pressure on the quarterback. Whether that was guys getting the ball out quick on us last year or missing opportunities, but we need to improve in those two areas. So I guess in terms of complacency, it’s just doing the things we’ve been doing well, keep doing those, move forward, do whatever we can to make those things a little bit better. But then it’s making a lot of your focus on getting pressure on the quarterback, getting the ball out, whether it’s a fumble or an interception, catching the ball. I think if you can focus on those little things and not worry about being right total defense, in the country, or whatever it is. Just focus on the little things and move forward, and then you’re gonna get better inevitably.
Q: Why have you guys become an elite defense during the course of your career there?
A: The first thing that comes to my head is you gotta mention the continuity of staff. We’ve had the same coaches, aside from Coach Burton who’s stepping in this year, for 5, 6, 7, whatever years, been at Michigan State. And there’s something to be said about that. Obviously we have good players; all the programs we play and all of the teams we face week in and week out have good players. So we’re gonna have good players. Just having the ability to play with each other, have the same defensive concepts, the same staff. We’ve had a lot of young guys too, going back two years ago in my grades. We’ve played together for two years now. When you do that you can play fast and worry about making plays, and you know the guy next to you is gonna be doing his job, and the guy next to him is gonna be doing his job. We can play fast, we know the defense, we don’t have to worry about the little things, and the big things will take care of themselves.
Q: Let’s talk about the other side of the ball for a little bit. Obviously a lot of talk in the spring about changes being made, obviously position balance and stuff like that. From your perspective, what have you seen on the offensive side of the ball? Do you have concerns right now about the running game or is there anything over there that encourages you that you’ve seen so far?
A: I’d say we’ve definitely had some coaching changes and I think they’ve opened things up a little bit, whether that’s…I don’t mean open things up, I just mean that they have a bigger playbook, I think they have a bigger arsenal to choose from. I can’t think of anything specific, they just have broader plays to pick from. And guys are competing. There’s a lot of key guys that left the last two years on the offense, I think even more so than the defense. I think guys playing our offensive line are finally healthy. We had two of our top 3 or 4 guys out the whole season last year, so having those guys back is really encouraging. Our offensive line…our offense is more of a rhythm, more of a tempo thing than the defense. So I think it’s harder for them to get going in just 7, 8, 9 practices. Everything’s gotta stick together a little bit more than say a defense that’s bringing 6, 7, 8 guys every time. I wouldn’t say anything’s discouraging at all. I think guys are competing, guys are getting better and that’s only gonna make us better as a team.
Q: The first couple of years you were coming off a couple of 11 win seasons. There was plenty of talk of the Rose Bowl and all that, that motivated you through the winter and spring. Last season’s performance, has that made it more difficult to motivate you guys through the winter and spring ,or has that actually motivated you guys more to prove that that year was kind of an exception more than the rule these days?
A: Definitely motivated us more. Definitely motivated us more, I think. Looking at it in hindsight, I mean obviously I’d like to win a lot more games, but it put things into perspective for us. A lot of guys that come to Michigan State, they’ll lose many games in high school and we hadn’t lost many games the previous 2 years. So a lot of guys hadn’t lost a lot of games but now I think we have that knowledge, we have that experience of, Is that gonna happen to us? We don’t just get to win because we’re in winter conditioning; we’re out here playing spring hitting each other every day. It’s a talented country, a talented Big 10. I think we just use that motivation to move forward and look at what we have next year. We have a little bit different schedule than we’ve had, so that’ll give us an opportunity to play a few different teams. Like I said, I think it’s just the experience that we have had because of last year that’ll help us understand that we need to come every day and be ready for this season.
Q: How much fun has it been to hit quarterbacks live again in the spring?
A: Oh, it’s a lot of fun. It speeds up the game that much for you, even if you’re going live on the edge or live wherever, anywhere else on the run game. Whenever a quarterback’s live it just speeds everything up. It allows for a faster tempo. Our guys have had fun with it. They’ve made some plays though, too .
Q: Have you seen some quarterback run game from your offense?
A: Yeah, yep. We’ve got a few more athletic quarterbacks than other guys coming in. I’d say most everyone in the country now is integrating them in the offense a little bit. Whether you’re a team like Michigan where that’s all they run, or you’re a team like…I’m not sure who else, I guess us right now. But a team that just has the change up. You know, you get the quarterback running you got an extra guy blocking. So I think in this day and age I think it’s a necessity to at least have in your arsenal. Maybe not base your offense around it, because we definitely haven’t, but at least have it in your arsenal when you need it.
Q: I’m just wondering, as a leader do you feel any different this year than you did a year ago? Is there a difference in that approach just as a senior? And are you more comfortable getting in someone’s face if needed?
A: I’d say you’re gonna be a little bit more comfortable in certain situations, whether that’s talking to a coach or giving a young guy the advice or whatever that he needs. You know, I was pretty comfortable last year I think, having a year under my belt starting as a sophomore, I was pretty comfortable last year. But now I think as much as anything, to understand that this is my last year. No one else is gonna do it. If I’m not gonna do it then no one else is gonna do it, so I need to step up and and be that guy that’s in your face or the guy that’s talking to you after practice. Whatever it is, I can be that guy. I was decently comfortable last year in that role. But absolutely it’s a different level of confidence in those areas.
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