Wayne Matthews III says MSU is 'stacked' at LB, gives freshman LB a shout out
A freshman linebacker has gained the respect and grabbed the attention of a veteran within that position room.
Veteran linebacker Wayne Matthews spoke with the media on Tuesday, fielding a number of questions about the Spartans as they prepare for the 2025 season. Matthews was quoted staying the Spartans are "stacked" at linebacker this year, with one particular young player getting a personal shout out as well: Brady Pretzlaff.
Per a post on social media from Emmett Matasovsky of Spartan Shadows, Matthews said Pretzlaff is "going to be a guy" for the Spartans. Whether or not that is this year or down the road is not clear, but certainly still some high praise from Matthews for the young redshirt freshman linebacker.
Here's the full post from Matasovsky with the quote from Matthews:
Pretzlaff played in four games last year but was able to preserve his redshirt status. He tallied a seven total tackles, with one of which being for a loss. He was a four-star prospect in On3's ratings for the 2024 class, and a nice recruiting win for Jonathan Smith's staff in his first recruiting cycle.
Pretzlaff came to Michigan State with expectations of seeing solid playing time early in his career and it sounds like that is going to happen. Having another young solid linebacker in an already talented -- "stacked" as Matthews said -- room is great news for the Spartans.
Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Robert Bondy on X @RobertBondy5.
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