‘Maybe they got this thing called common sense’: NCAA reverses course, clears Rodney Bullard for 2026

EAST LANSING – Rodney Bullard Jr. had spent months preparing himself for the possibility that he might not know whether he could play for Michigan State this season until days – perhaps even hours – before the Spartans took the field.

He was prepared to go to court Thursday.

He was prepared to keep practicing without an answer.

If necessary, Bullard said Monday, he was prepared to carry the uncertainty all the way to kickoff.

Instead, the answer came while Michigan State was warming up for practice Monday morning.

The NCAA had reconsidered its previous decision and granted Bullard eligibility for the 2026 season.

And just like that, the fight was over.

“Just excitement,” Bullard said afterward. “The team kind of rallied around me. It actually happened this morning during the stretch lines and they came out and let me know. And the team was just excited. We were all excited and, you know, (then we) got back to work.”

Bullard had not expected a decision Monday. As far as he knew, the next significant development in his months-long eligibility fight would come Thursday, when a preliminary injunction hearing was scheduled in Ingham County Circuit Court.

Instead, the NCAA reversed course three days before Bullard expected to make his case before Judge Wanda Stokes.

“I was still expecting the court date on Thursday," Bullard said. "And they happened to come and tell me today. So, I mean, the faster the better. I was happy.”

Michigan State coach Pat Fitzgerald learned the news at essentially the same time.

“I was on the field and I got told he’s eligible,” Fitzgerald said. “I’m ecstatic.”

Then Fitzgerald offered his own theory for what may have finally changed.

“So maybe (the NCAA) got this thing called common sense,” Fitzgerald said. “I don’t know. I have no idea (why), but I’m happy they did.”

The ruling ends an eligibility battle that stretched from the winter through the final days before Michigan State’s season and eventually forced Bullard to sue the NCAA for the opportunity to play what would be only his fourth season of college football.

Fitzgerald never understood why it had reached that point.

“We felt from day one that this was a no-brainer,” Fitzgerald said. “We were asking for his fourth year. This wasn’t like we’re asking for a seventh (season, like) some of these people (who) are coming back from the NFL. Like, are you kidding me? Like, we’re literally asking for him to get his fourth year of eligibility.”

A celebration during warm-up

The news traveled quickly through a Michigan State team that had spent months asking Bullard for updates and assuring him it would remain behind him regardless of how long the process lasted.

Bullard said teammate Kenny Soares Jr. reacted enthusiastically enough to knock Bullard’s helmet off.

“They (were) happy,” Bullard said. “Actually, (Soares) knocked my helmet off in excitement, just laughing at me. So, it was pretty cool. Everybody was happy.”

Fitzgerald saw the same reaction.

“Everybody was pretty fired up for him on the practice field,” Fitzgerald said. “We found out during warm-up, so that was kind of cool. It was a cool moment.”

The celebration was understandable given what Bullard had been carrying.

He transferred to Michigan State from Division II Valdosta State before the 2025 season after playing there in 2023 and 2024. He has competed in only three seasons of college football, including last year at Michigan State, but the NCAA had previously determined that his five-year eligibility clock began when he initially enrolled at Valdosta State in the fall of 2021.

Bullard disputed that determination, maintaining that he was a part-time student in 2021 and was not even a member of the Valdosta State football program.

As The Detroit News previously reported, Bullard entered Valdosta State after accumulating substantial college credit while still in high school and intended to enroll part time. Valdosta State initially registered him for an Anatomy & Physiology course because transcripts documenting coursework he had already completed elsewhere had not yet arrived, creating the enrollment discrepancy that eventually became central to his eligibility case.

Bullard did not join the Valdosta State football program until 2022. He redshirted that season, played in 2023 and 2024, then transferred to Michigan State and played his third season in 2025.

Michigan State pursued his eligibility through NCAA channels, including an appeal, without success.

Bullard then decided to pursue another avenue: the courts.

“I know there’s a lot of back and forth in deciding and, like, appealing it,” Bullard said. “So, I’m not too sure of all the details, but I know once they – I wanted to keep fighting for it. So, with the other avenue, with getting the legal team, I was trying to fight any way I could to be able to make sure I could play and expedite the process.”

That process no longer needs to reach Thursday’s hearing.

The NCAA reconsidered - and Bullard is eligible.

Fitzgerald made clear Monday that Michigan State believed all along that should have been the result.

“You take all these on a case-by-case basis, and this one for us, we just were shocked that we had to work this far down the road with it,” Fitzgerald said. “But Rodney was steadfast that this is what he wanted to do. It’s been very hard on him. It’s been, you know, in my opinion, something that’s unfair to a student-athlete to have to go through.”

‘I just kept going’

For Bullard, the most difficult part was not necessarily one NCAA ruling or appeal.

It was waking up every day without knowing how the story would end.

From Michigan State’s final game of 2025 through spring practice, summer workouts and August camp, Bullard prepared as though he would play despite having no guarantee that he actually could.

“Toughest moment, probably, you know, just the not knowing part,” Bullard said. “And, you know, every day just having to go in and still work and do my job and perform at a high level, even when I don’t know what’s going on.”

By Monday, Michigan State’s opener was only 11 days away.

Bullard still did not have an answer when he arrived for practice.

“If I had to go all the way up until kickoff, I would have,” he said.

One thing made that uncertainty considerably easier to endure: Michigan State never treated Bullard like someone who might not be part of the team.

He practiced, competed for playing time and prepared alongside everyone else. Fitzgerald and his staff made a conscious decision to operate as though Bullard eventually would be cleared.

“The one thing that kind of kept me going is just nothing changed,” Bullard said. “So, no matter what happened, I was still able to keep practicing every day. I was still able to, you know, do everything that I would be doing if I was eligible. So, as long as nothing was changing, I kept going. I was still motivated.”

Fitzgerald said that approach was intentional.

“We haven’t stopped,” Fitzgerald said. “We’ve operated like he was going to be eligible, so we expect his role to be quite large. We’ve kind of felt that way since day one. So nothing really changes with the ruling. We just know that he can now go play in a game.”

Had the fight spilled into the season, Fitzgerald said Michigan State was prepared for that, too.

“We were going to stick with him all the way through, no matter what happened,” Fitzgerald said. “If this was going to have to go into the season, we were willing to stick by his side and have his back.”

That support extended far beyond Fitzgerald.

Bullard repeatedly credited Michigan State’s coaching staff, compliance staff, athletic administration and teammates with keeping him from feeling isolated while his eligibility remained unresolved.

“They (were) emphasizing that they (were) with me the whole time,” Bullard said. “They didn’t want to change anything and make me feel excluded or left out just because it was something unknown. So, they (were) still giving me a fair chance to compete and do everything as if everything was all good. So, that definitely kept me pushing forward.”

Fitzgerald said university president Kevin Guskiewicz and the administration were also fully behind Bullard’s effort.

“The athletic administration, the university, President Guskiewicz, everybody was fully supportive of supporting him,” Fitzgerald said. “We were all fully supportive of everything he needed to do to gain his eligibility.”

Bullard could not identify one teammate who had been particularly supportive because, he said, the description applied to essentially all of them.

“Everyone on the team checked on me every single day asking, ‘Have I heard anything?’” Bullard said. “Actually, the team – they (were) ready to all pull up to the court and support me. So, you know, everybody – it was literally everyone. So, I can’t pinpoint one person.”

That support helped convince him there was no reason to stop fighting.

“Really the whole staff, compliance, my teammates, everyone kept rallying around me,” Bullard said. “And we felt like we had a pretty good case to keep going instead of just giving up on it. So, the whole supporting cast helped me and helped me get through it. So, I didn’t want to give up on it.”

Neither did Michigan State.

“We’re very thankful for all the hard work of our compliance office,” Fitzgerald said. “Really happy for obviously Rodney and his family, and we’re just happy that he gets the opportunity to play the game that he loves.”

Bullard and his father learned almost simultaneously

The news reached Bullard’s family almost as quickly as it reached him.

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