“Last year, a lot of times when we were getting ready for somebody else, we put people in those positions to sort of simulate an opposing player,” Dantonio said. “We had Riley at tailback last year getting ready for Iowa. He was pretty impressive, so I thought, ‘Well, let’s see what he can do.’”

He said the 6-foot-2, 232-pound linebacker has good feet and a high football IQ, a must to play multiple positions well.

Dantonio said Bullough compliments the other three backs the Spartans have on the roster in a way they’ve always had in previous years.

“We’ve always had guys that are able to play off each other,” he said. “A bigger guy and a faster guy, that sort of compliment each other. Right now, we really don’t have that.”

He added there are other options on the team he hasn’t explored and incoming freshmen might fill the needed position.

In the second scrimmage of the spring Saturday, the linebacker carried the ball 11 times for a team-high 43 yards and a pair of one-yard touchdown runs.

“I love carrying the ball,” Bullough said. “In high school, I was quarterback, so I had the ball every play, so it’s good to be back carrying the ball.”

He said the most difficult part of the transition isn’t learning both sides of the ball, but simply not knowing where he’s going to be at a given time.

When Dantonio told him he would be getting some looks at running back, Bullough was shocked, but excited, and playing against his side of the ball pumps him up.

“The defense, those are my guys, I’ve been with them since I got here,” he said. “It’s definitely fun to go against them and see how I compare to the other running backs.”

The defense he’s getting to run against includes his older brother, senior linebacker Max Bullough#.

The younger Bullough said the whole defense was gunning for him since his the first day in the backfield, and there has been some brother-on-brother action.

“The first day I played tailback, I was running a power through the middle and I spun and (Max) hit me right in the kidney,” Riley Bullough said. “I was like, ‘I guess it is tougher than I thought to be a running back.’”

Switching positions doesn’t come without some hardships, and Bullough said he got some help from the other running backs, especially junior running back Nick Hill. Hill said he’s letting Bullough get the plays down and doing what he needs to do to make the transition as smooth as possible.

“Even though he’s a linebacker coming over, I’m treating him as a fresh in, freshman running back,” Hill said. “If he asks questions, needs to know things, I’ll help him out. Even though he’s competition, I’m going to help him out.”

One way or another, Dantonio will find his man, and the Spartans will start the season with the compliment in the backfield.

“We need to find someone who can carry the ball 200-plus times,” Dantonio said. “We need to find that with our guys who are existing at that position, incoming freshmen, or moving somebody. We’ve always had that, and we’ll continue to have that.”