Vidal Hazelton (born January 29, 1988) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

. He was signed by the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

in 2011. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

USC Trojans The USC Trojans (also Southern California Trojans) are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ...

and the

Cincinnati Bearcats The Cincinnati Bearcats are the college sports, athletic teams that represent the University of Cincinnati. The teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and the Football Bowl Subdivision as members of the Big 12 Conference. The Bearcats were pr ...

.Gary Klein
Vidal Hazelton to transfer from USC
''Los Angeles Times'', December 3, 2008, Accessed December 3, 2008.

Early life

As a junior in 2005 at Moore Catholic High School in Staten Island (N.Y.), he caught 39 passes for 784 yards (20.1 avg.) with 17 TDs, ran for 240 yards with 4 scores and posted 38 tackles, 3 sacks and 2 interceptions for TDs. During the previous fall, Hazelton briefly transferred to Ralph R. McKee CTE High School where he was to be paired with rising star Wide Receiver, Benjamin Little, and All City Linebacker, Kofi Antwi. Little’s decision to quit the M.S.I.T football program prompted an immediate return to Moore for Hazelton. He eventually transferred to

Hargrave Military Academy Hargrave Military Academy (HMA) is a private school, private, all-male, Military school, military boarding school located in the town of Chatham, Virginia. Hargrave is affiliated with the Baptist General Association of Virginia emphasizing Chr ...

his senior year, where he had 41 receptions for 942 yards (23.0 avg.) with 13 TDs in 2005. Hazelton was invited to play in the 2006 U.S. Army All-American Bowl, a national all-star game for the best high school football players in the country.

College career

USC

Hazelton arrived at

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

as one of the nation's best players and one of USC's biggest pickups of the recruiting season. Hazelton saw time in only two games his freshman season, as the Trojans ended up going 11–2 and winning the

2007 Rose Bowl The 2007 Rose Bowl Game presented by Citi was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 2007, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. It was the 93rd Rose Bowl Game and part of the 2006–2007 Bowl Championship Series (BCS) at the conc ...

against

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

32–18. Hazelton played backup to Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith, two of the best receivers in the nation, and only accumulated one catch for eight yards. He also had a run for seven yards. Hazelton was expected to start the 2007 season for the Trojans, along with junior Patrick Turner, and in spring practice Hazelton impressed observers.Gary Klein
Booty is in his comfort zone
''Los Angeles Times'', March 28, 2007. He entered fall camp as the top starting flanker on the depth chart. Vidal made an outstanding one handed

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

catch against

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

's first game of the year. He finished the season as USC's leading wide receiver in 2007, catching 50 passes and scored four touchdowns. Hazelton's 2008 season with USC was not as successful. After catching five passes, he suffered a

high ankle sprain A high ankle sprain, also known as a syndesmotic ankle sprain (SAS), is a sprain of the syndesmotic ligaments that connect the tibia and fibula in the lower leg, thereby creating a mortise and tenon joint for the ankle. High ankle sprains are desc ...

in the season opener against

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. Once he recovered he found himself unable to climb back into the starting line-up. The arrival and rise of

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

transfer Damian Williams, along with continued production by senior Patrick Turner and sophomore Ronald Johnson, pushed Hazelton into the role of a seldom used reserve. Further complicating matters, Hazelton's grandfather was diagnosed with

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

, and he desired to be geographically closer to him. On December 2, 2008, Hazelton asked for and was granted permission to transfer to another school. After leaving, Hazelton noted "USC is a great place. It's filled up with athletes. If somebody's not 100 percent they've got to pass them up. I would have done the same thing if I was the coaches at USC."Bill Koch
'High on Cincinnati'
''The Cincinnati Enquirer'', January 15, 2009, Accessed January 15, 2009. Although Hazelton was from New York, he lived most recently with his grandfather in Georgia.Brian Matthews
Hazelton In Depth on Transfer
, WeAreSC.com, December 2, 2008, Accessed December 3, 2008. By mid-January, Hazelton was leaning towards

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

Professional career

Cincinnati Bengals

After going undrafted in the

2011 NFL draft The 2011 NFL draft was the 76th installment of the annual National Football League draft, NFL draft, where the franchises of the National Football League select newly eligible football players. Like the 2010 draft, the 2011 draft was held at Rad ...

, Hazelton was signed by the

on July 26, 2011. He was waived by San Diego on August 30. He later signed with the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

practice squad on December 27, 2011. He was waived by the Cincinnati Bengals on August 31, 2012.

Tennessee Titans

Hazelton signed with the Tennessee Titans practice squad September 3, 2012.

New York Jets

The

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

signed Hazelton to a reserve/future contract on January 23, 2013. He was waived on August 7, 2013 after suffering an undisclosed leg injury. Hazelton was placed on the team's injured reserve list on August 8, 2013.

Toronto Argonauts

Hazelton signed with the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team based in Toronto, Ontario. The Argonauts compete in the East Division (CFL), East Division of t ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

on Wednesday, March 18, 2015. In his first year in the CFL Hazelton played in 16 games for the Argos, and was suspended by the team for one game for accumulating too many objectionable conduct penalties. Hazelton contributed 70 pass receptions for 803 yards with 6 touchdowns in his rookie season. He was named the runner up for the CFL Rookie of the Year award for 2015, being edged out but wide receiver Derel Walker. Hazleton began the

2016 CFL season The 2016 CFL season was the 63rd season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it was the 59th Canadian Football League season. Toronto hosted the 104th Grey Cup on November 27. The regular season began on June 23 and ended on November ...

as one of the Argo's primary wide receivers, and was the first Argonaut to score a touchdown at their new home stadium

BMO Field BMO Field is an outdoor stadium located at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Constructed on the former Exhibition Stadium site and first opened in 2007, it is the home field of Toronto FC of Major League Soccer (MLS) and Toronto Ar ...

. Hazleton played in 8 of the Argos first 14 games, missing 6 due to injury. Following a Week 15 loss the Argos front office decided to release four of their wide receivers on the same day including Vidal Hazelton. Reports out of the locker room suggest the four wide receivers were not committed to the Argos and had been a source of division in the locker room for some time. In 8 games for the Argos Hazleton caught 27 passes for 361 yards with 3 touchdowns.

Edmonton Eskimos

Hazleton signed with the

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at Commonwealth Stadium. The E ...

(CFL) on October 18, 2016. He did not make an appearance for the Eskimos during the 2016 season. On January 16, 2017, Hazleton was re-signed by the Eskimos. In his first full season in Edmonton Hazelton caught 55 passes for 709 yards with four touchdowns (he caught eight passes for 125 yards in the team's two playoff games). On February 5, 2018, Hazleton was re-signed by the Eskimos to a one-year deal, the same day the team released veteran receiver Adarius Bowman.

References

External links

Toronto Argonauts bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hazelton, Vidal 1988 births American football wide receivers Canadian football wide receivers Living people Moore Catholic High School alumni USC Trojans football players Players of American football from Staten Island San Diego Chargers players Cincinnati Bengals players Tennessee Titans players New York Jets players Boston Brawlers players Toronto Argonauts players Edmonton Elks players Canadian Football League Rookie of the Year Award winners Hargrave Military Academy alumni 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen Players of Canadian football from New York City