Spartan Gladiator Max Bullough Spending the Countless Hours To Make Sure His Spartan Defense is Better in 2013!

When your best player returns to school and spurns the NFL that helps set the foundation for a rebound. The fact that MSU is coming off of a seven win season

When your best player returns to school and spurns the NFL that helps set the foundation for a rebound. The fact that MSU is coming off of a seven win season that includes a bowl victory and people are declaring a need for a rebound tells how far Mark Dantonio has brought the Spartan Nation. MSU captain and star MLB Max Bullough isn’t happy with last year and he is leading his Spartans in to this very critical spring.

Bullough was forthcoming in what he and his team are looking for this spring. “Finish. Ya know, finish and find the answers. Coach D always says those things and really it sounds cliché but that’s the truth. We lose a couple games by a few inches, last year we won a few games by the same. So it’s just finding those inches and finding a way to make up for those in the offseason. We can’t necessarily play the game tomorrow but we can do something today to make sure we’re in a better position next year.”

It is Bullough’s drive and work ethic that allows him to lead the way he does. There isn’t one person who is part of this program from the custodians to the coaches that doesn’t see the intensity and pride that Bullough takes in all he does.

“I think we had good leadership last year. I think there was not as many leaders as there has been in the past. I think we had a good focus group of them. But there’s gotta be leaders in every room, in every position, in every grade. I think that’s what a few of the guys have become comfortable with this off season and heading into spring ball. The more leaders you have, as long as they’re all going in the same direction, it doesn’t really matter.”

So how does Bullough and his teammates set out to find those critical inches and leaders? Those few little things that a season hinges on are almost impossible to replicate in practice. You can’t practice those things? “No, you’re absolutely right and I think that’s the thing that’s hard about it. You really gotta just come out here…. I believe you gotta believe in what you’re doing. You gotta wholeheartedly believe in what Coach D’s doing, what Coach Mannie’s doing, what Coach Narduzzi’s doing. If you dive into that and you have the ability to really believe in what you’re doing and do it to the best of your ability, then good things are gonna happen. Other than that, there’s no secret formula to winning.”

It is Bullough’s leadership even more than his play that sets him apart as a Spartan great. He knows that he and his teammates on both sides of the ball can learn big lessons from last year. He said as much, “I think psychologically, as far as experience goes, we have that experience now. I wasn’t a guy that came in here going into last season that lost many games. In High School for that matter a lot of guys are in the same boat. So I think now that we have that experience and now we know that we got on top of last year, and years before, we got another one to go. Like I said its experience, it’s knowing it could happen to you as much as anything. It’s knowing that you don’t just get to win because you come out here and run, and do spring ball and winter conditioning. It can happen to anybody.”

Bullough is not only a great player, but he is also a student of the game. A gym rat and someone who has embraced the mad scientist known as Coach Ken Mannie, Bullough has studied last year and came away with some key hindsight. “Well, you know we went through a lot of stats. We had a lot of good things last year and the years past. We need more turnovers, we didn’t have as many sacks as we’d like to have last year. So those are two specific points that we can talk about…. There’s always things…breakdown. I don’t think we finished enough games out last year like we could have. You just go down the list; there’s always things you could get better at.”

I spoke with Max back in February about the winter workouts. About the little things that fans don’t see. If there is one thing the elite athletes have in common it is the attention to detail. Bullough has that. I asked him about working out with no games and the time that he and his teammates spend off of the field. He put it into perspective nicely, “Well, I think we try not to look too far ahead, too far forward to next fall. Obviously you think about those teams and the guys they have and it’s kind of been a given. You understand those teams are working as hard as we are. So it’s just really about folks at Michigan State, doing what we can do to make Max better, to make Denicos better, to make Andrew Maxwell better, Benny Fowler, whoever it might be. Make us better. We’ll worry about Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame when fall comes.”

Some people hate the spring and the winter workouts. They loathe the grind, but Bullough shows his football maturity when asked to put it in perspective. What can really be accomplished in the off season to be ready for the fall? “Yeah, this is the stuff that you build teams on, you build friendships, you build relationships, and you build championships. Not necessarily the drills we’re doing or how we’re doing them, whatever it is. It’s just being here. Being here together, going through this, having to be here. It’s all the intangibles that you don’t think about. Not only do people don’t see us lifting or running, take that for whatever its worth, it’s just being together and going through the time together.”

When Max said no to the NFL he broke a lot of NFL hearts. He also made a lot of people happy in the Spartan Nation. His play is exceptional, but his leadership is what he is best at. Bullough leads from the front. He doesn’t ask any player to do what he won’t and he demands the same perfection out of himself as he does others.

I have known Max for a long time. He is a better person than a player. That is what makes him so good. Lost in his gladiator success on the football field, is that he is a terrific young man. His teammates follow him because they respect him.

In 2013 the Spartans dominant defense should be even better. Their leader is Max Bullough and he won���t let it be any other way.