Michigan State may have a future five-star on its hands according to one recruiting expert.
Through the first five months of the Pat Fitzgerald era, it’s been pretty obvious that Michigan State’s first-year head coach has a pretty good eye for talent. He’s landed some impressive under-the-radar recruits and the one four-star that he got to commit is apparently looking more like a five-star with future first-round potential.
At least that’s what college football recruiting analyst Tom Lemming thinks. He also called him maybe the most underrated recruit in the Midwest.
Ohimai Ozolua committed to Michigan State last month and he’s already garnering a ton of praise from recruiting experts like Lemming who did nothing but gush over the four-star Spartan pledge.
Ohimai Ozolua 6‘6“ 250 Chicago Saint Rita HS, IL already looks like an NFL DE. Long arms, violent and quick hands to go with a great first step. No doubt he has. 5* potential. Just might be the most underrated player in the Midwest.@ohimai21 1st rd potential. Ability is there. pic.twitter.com/19FOr1qZfN
— Tom Lemming (@LemmingReport) May 18, 2026
The 6-foot-6, 250-pound Chicago-based recruit “already looks like an NFL DE” per Lemming and he has first-round potential. The five-star comment really caught my eye because a guy who follows recruiting for a living and knows what five-stars look like is saying this. That’s obviously much different than your everyday fan saying it.
After watching his highlights, I can see where Lemming is coming from.
Right now, Ozolua is just the No. 414 recruit in the country as well as the 48th-best defensive lineman so he has a long way to go before he even flirts with five-star status.
Lemming did say “five-star potential” so maybe he’s referring to how good Ozolua is going to be when he gets to campus, not necessarily where he’ll finish in the recruiting rankings. Either way, I think all Spartan fans are on board after the horrendous past few years of defensive line play.
Michigan State’s defensive line needs more “five-star” talent
Winston DeLattiboudere III did a great job in landing Ozolua over programs like Miami, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, and Tennessee and he has to continue doing that if he wants to be responsible for turning the Spartans’ defensive line around.
I’m not saying that he needs to go out and find four and five-stars only, but identifying guys who he believes have “five-star potential” is going to be key.
Mark Dantonio did this with guys like Kenny Willekes, Marcus Rush, and countless others and he became a literal Hall of Famer because of his talent evaluation. The current staff seems to be really good at that aspect of recruiting, but we just need to see the development before we can crown them.
Ozolua is proof, however, that Fitzgerald and DeLattiboudere know what they’re doing.
The defensive line is in good hands.
Add us as a preferred source on Google