East Lansing, Mich. - When Michigan State became active for linebacker transfers during the winter, nabbing Jacoby Windmon of UNLV and Aaron Brulé of Mississippi State, the message was clear that changes were coming at that position within the Spartan football program.

Those changes became official on Friday when Quavaris Crouch entered the transfer portal. Crouch did not participate with Michigan State during spring practice. Accountability issues made his future doubtful with Michigan State during the winter.

In order to play to another FBS school in the fall, Crouch will need to do so as a graduate transfer. Sources told SpartanMag in March that academic hurdles were the only thing keeping him from entering the portal at that juncture.

Crouch, a native of Charlotte, N.C. and a former four-star recruit, transferred to Michigan State from Tennessee last year.

He played 10 games for the Spartans in 2021, racking up 75 tackles, which ranked No. 4 on the team

Crouch started the first nine games for Michigan State. Injuries caused him to miss two of the last three regular season games. He missed the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl for undisclosed reasons.

Crouch had impact talent as a fast, physical pursuer of the football as an inside linebacker, but sometimes had trouble playing within the framework of the scheme on a down-in and down-out basis.

In the bowl game, Michigan State started Cal Haladay and Noah Harvey at linebacker, with Ma’a Gaoteote getting four snaps as the Spartans shortened their bench.

Haladay (6-1, 235, R-Soph., Elysburg, Pa.) became a surprise starter for Michigan State in 2021 and earned honorable mention All-Big Ten status by coaches and media. He was named Freshman All-America by the Football Writers Association of America.

With Harvey graduating and plans moving forward for Michigan State to go in to 2022 without Crouch, the Spartans pursued Windmon and Brulé soon after they entered the portal.

Windmon and Brulé played to strong reviews during spring practice for the Spartans.

Brulé played exclusively at Will linebacker in the spring. He had 52 tackles at Mississippi State last fall, but has fine-tuned his burst since becoming indoctrinated into the Michigan State strength, conditioning and nutrition program.

“He is a phenomenal athlete,” Michigan State defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Scottie Hazelton said of Brulé in early April. “His burst is very good. He can rush, he can cover. We are trying to figure out how much we can put on his plate.”

Windmon played exclusively at Mike linebacker in the spring.

In 2021, Windmon led a struggling 2-10 UNLV team with 118 tackles, 11 tackles for loss and six sacks. He was second-team All-Mountain West Conference.

Windmon impressed coaches and teammates with immediate leadership skills as soon as he arrived at Michigan State. He has toughness between the tackles, speed to pursue the alley to the outside, and turn the corner as a pass rusher.

With Windmon, Brulé and cornerback Ameer Speed (Georgia) joining the team, Michigan State is expecting to get an immediate impact from all three on defense this fall.

“We definitely have added some very, very good athletes on the defense,” said Michigan State quarterback Payton Thorne. “I’ll just leave it at that.”

Darius Snow moved from safety to linebacker during the spring and is in the mix for a starting job at an inside linebacker position, and also has the ability to flex out to nickel back.

With Haladay and Gaoteote, both sophomores, having a good spring, the Spartans have five quality linebacker candidates for Michigan State’s two linebacker positions, which is expected to make for a deeper, stronger position group this fall than that with which Michigan State finished the 2021 season.