Michigan State Lands Young Portal Defensive Lineman out of Toledo
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Michigan State football is continuing its string of transfer portal commitments.
The latest addition for the Spartans is Toledo defensive line transfer Carlos Hazelwood, according to multiple reports. He has three years of eligibility remaining and is MSU's fifth transfer portal commitment of Thursday alone.
Hazelwood, listed at 6-foot-4 and 270 pounds, was a rotational player for the Rockets during the 2025 season. He appeared in eight total games and made seven tackles, also getting two quarterback hits, half a tackle for loss, and a fumble recovery.
There is likely some pre-existing relationship between Hazelwood and new Michigan State general manager Bryan Gasser, who previously worked at Toledo before joining Pat Fitzgerald in East Lansing.
More on Hazelwood, Fit at MSU
Hazelwood began his collegiate career as a lower-tier three-star recruit. According to 247Sports, his only two offers were from Toledo, Northern Illinois, and FCS Illinois State. He finished ranked 1,821st overall in the class of 2024 on the site's composite rankings. That was 184th among defensive linemen and 45th among all players from Illinois.
The Markham, Ill. native ended up redshirting during his first year at Toledo, appearing in two games. Even though he still didn't play that regularly this past season, Hazelwood was still productive across his 83 defensive snaps.
He finished his redshirt freshman season with a 77.9 overall defensive grade from Pro Football Focus, which is considered pretty decent. That included an 84.3 mark as a pass rusher, generating eight pressures across 49 such snaps. All of that has to be taken with a grain of salt or two, given the limited sample size.
It may be a difficult path for Hazelwood towards seeing too much playing time during his first year at MSU, but there are still so many variables with a transfer portal class that is still very much in progress. Hazelwood is the first interior defensive lineman to publicly commit to the Spartans this cycle. On3 ranks him 1,123rd overall in the transfer portal, which is 118th among those at his position.
Defensive line is a position of need for MSU in the portal. Michigan State is losing most of its top interior d-linemen, whether it be to the transfer portal or otherwise.
Alex VanSumeren, who was third on the team in tackles with 52, by far the most among those at his position, entered the transfer portal and has since committed to USC. MSU is also losing Grady Kelly, Ru'Quan Buckley, and Jalen Satchell.
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A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
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