Michigan State football player Aidan Chiles feels he can become the best QB in the country with growth

EAST LANSING — Brian Lindgren matter-of-factly shared perhaps the most important fact about new Michigan State football quarterback Aidan Chiles.

“He’s never started a game,” the Spartans’ new offensive coordinator said Thursday, “something I think people sometimes tend to forget.”

There was no intention to dampen any of the high expectation and hope surrounding the talented Oregon State transfer. Chiles enters his second collegiate season, and first in the green and white, as the all-but-assumed starter and beacon of optimism for fans after a tumultuous past few years, looking to bring stability specifically at the quarterback position and more broadly to a team in transition.

Although he is only 18 years old, he has just 91 plays to his name and the weight of a program on his shoulders, which are getting bigger and bigger.

And the confidence and innate skills of a budding superstar. With one mission: “I’m here to win games. That’s all.”

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“I think everyone has that mentality, but I think I’m the best quarterback in the Big Ten and the country,” Chiles said Thursday after MSU’s third preseason camp practice. “But everyone has that mentality, so it’s my job to prove it.”

The hype surrounding Chiles is by far the biggest of any transfer MSU has made during the portal era. That includes current NFL players who came via transfers, including running back Kenneth Walker III, wide receiver Jayden Reed and linebacker Ben VanSumeren. The 6-foot-3, 217-pound California native was rated the No. 8 overall transfer and second-best quarterback transfer heading into this fall, according to 247 Sports rankings.

While it’s difficult to compare the expectations and excitement that comes with bringing in a new QB, unlike any other position, there is an expectation that Chiles can generate the kind of momentum shift that Walker accomplished during his lone season in 2021, when he went from a platoon at Wake Forest to becoming the Spartans’ first-ever Big Ten running back of the year, Doak Walker Award winner and Walter Camp national player of the year.

“Aidan has a vital role in the offense. They work around him,” sixth-year senior defensive tackle Maverick Hansen said Tuesday of Chiles. “He’s the guy, he’s the one that everyone’s looking at as the guy and all that, just like every other quarterback. Now (Walker) is a running back. But we knew in spring league, before the season even started, that K9 was a guy, because he would just get out of control and go before anybody else could touch him. And we were like, ‘Oh my God, this guy is the real deal. ’ And the coaches were like, ‘Oh, K9’s not going to be here for long. As soon as this season is over, he’s going to be in the league…’

“For a quarterback, it’s totally different. He has a lot: he can throw the ball, he can run the ball, he has a lot of different options, as far as a running back can just run and block. So I feel like there’s a lot of potential for Aidan. He’s also young and he’s been developing. And he pushes the team to be great.”

New MSU coach Jonathan Smith signed Chiles in December 2022. The strong-armed, quick-footed native of Downey, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, enrolled at Oregon State a month later, expecting to play right away after graduating early from high school.

However, Smith and his staff added Clemson transfer DJ Uiagalelei when the early signing period closed. Uiagalelei started every game of the Beavers’ 8-4 season, but Smith played Chiles for nine games, giving him his college debut by rotating him in every third series. Chiles responded by completing 24 of 35 passes (68.6%) for 309 yards and four touchdowns, and added 17 rushes for 79 yards and three touchdowns.

As Smith and his staff, including lead playing coordinator Lindgren, headed east to East Lansing, it didn’t take long for Chiles to follow. Particularly since MSU lost all three of its scholarship quarterbacks — Noah Kim (Coastal Carolina), Katin Houser (East Carolina) and Sam Leavitt (Arizona State) — to transfers.

“He’s a very young kid,” Lindgren said. “He was 17 when he came to Oregon State as a freshman, and he’s on the cusp of stepping into that role to potentially be the starter for us. … I think just maturity is something we’ve challenged him with. I’ve seen him take steps, just … (and) we’re just looking for him to be more consistent. I think that’s something we’ll ask him to work on as he goes through camp.

“It’s been great to see him take those steps, but I think he can still continue to grow in that area as a veteran player with consistency, being detailed and bringing some of the younger players with him.”

Senior Montorie Foster, who watched Chiles grow into a starter by arriving in January and participating in spring practices, said the receivers spent the summer months working nearly every day on their timing and connection. Foster didn’t need much to succinctly sum up what he’s seen from his new quarterback.

“Dynamic. I can say it in one word,” Foster said. “But if you want me to go into more detail: He’s a guy, man. He makes plays, he stretches plays. That West Coast offense, being able to get them out of the pocket and stretch plays downfield, it helps my game to make more plays downfield.”

Lindgren said Chiles watched closely as Uiagalelei’s backup in Corvallis, learning how to prepare each week and approach the game with the mindset of a starter, rather than just being a backup. And Chiles added that he stays in touch with his former teammate, who transferred back to Florida State after Smith and company left Corvallis.

The big improvement Lindgren wants now — and Chiles admits he needs to improve — is taking on the leadership reins that come with his position. Some of that can only be learned on the job and through the inevitable ups and downs of being an all-situation player, the only one with the ball in his hands on every play.

Chiles feels he is ready to take the next step and adds that he understands the work required to turn his courage and self-proclamation of greatness into a reality.

“I love the pressure,” Chiles said. “I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s different now. This year I have to prove what I can do. Last year, I had a run a game and I proved a little bit. But nobody really saw what I can do. So this year, the pressure is not there, really, not in my mind.

“But I know the team is counting on me to do what I have to do, and I’m counting on them too.”

Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. FOLLOW HIM @chrissolari.

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This article originally appeared in the Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football: Aidan Chiles feels he can be the best quarterback in the country