REPORT: MSU QB Aidan Chiles Ranks High Among Offseason Transfers
There is a lot of excitement surrounding Michigan State's football program as Coach Jonathan Smith prepares to lead his team to battle against Florida Atlantic on Friday.
Of course, much of the anticipation is due to first-year Spartans quarterback Aidan Chiles, who is already widely regarded as one of the best quarterbacks in the Big Ten.
Bruce Feldman, Sam Khan Jr. and Manny Navarro of The Athletic recently ranked college football's "top 100 most impactful transfers of 2024." Chiles was ranked 14th. Not bad for an 18-year-old quarterback going into just his second collegiate season.
"Chiles was a big get — and hold — for Jonathan Smith while at Oregon State," the article read. "After seeing action in nine games as a true freshman backing up DJ Uiagalelei, he followed Smith and the rest of the Oregon State staff to Michigan State. The 6-3, 220-pound Chiles, who doesn’t turn 19 until September, has excellent mobility, but he moves around looking to throw, not to take off any chance he gets. He has an opportunity to be really special."
Chiles was the fifth-highest ranked quarterback transfer on the list, trailining only Oregon's Dillon Gabriel (No. 2), Miami's Cam Ward (No. 4), Notre Dame's Riley Leonard (No. 11) and NC State's Grayson McCall (No. 13).
The Spartan quarterback has a long way to go, but he and the team have been taking the necessary steps to get him where he needs to be. With Chiles being so young and only having nine games of collegiate experience under his belt, the sophomore quarterback had to grow up quickly this summer.
"We're just challenging him on maturity, right?" said Michigan State offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Brian Lindgren, who coached Chiles at Oregon State. "He's such a young guy. He was 17 when he came to Oregon State as a freshman and kind of moving into that role of potentially being the starter for us. He has never started a game -- I think people sometimes tend to forget. So, I think just the maturity is something that we've challenged him [on], and I've seen him take steps, we're just looking for it more consistently."
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