Aydan West’s Comments Spark MSU Return Speculation

It appears that Michigan State is going to get back another talented defensive player.

A few hours before team captain and star linebacker Jordan Hall announced that he would return to MSU next year, young corner Aydan West had posted his video on social media, seemingly indicating that he'd be back in East Lansing.

"Year one was cool, but we coming for everything year two!" West wrote on X.

West just had a nice true freshman season at MSU, starting four games, playing in all 12, and seeing 380 total defensive snaps. He emerged as one of the Spartans' top two cornerbacks towards the end of the season.

What Keeping West Could Mean

West coming back would likely pencil himself in to be one of the Spartans' two starting cornerbacks next year. The two corners who played more snaps than West this year, Malcolm Bell (717) and Joshua Eaton (418), are both out of eligibility.

There was some natural concern that West would leave. He would have a lot of value on the open market as a corner with three years of eligibility remaining and some Power Four starting experience. The firing of Jonathan Smith and the subsequent departure of secondary coach Blue Adams to Florida State could have been enough for West to explore other options. The timing is also interesting, since Elisha West, his brother, announced he would be transferring from MSU on Tuesday as well.

What may have helped was the retention of defensive coordinator Joe Rossi, who is listed as West's primary recruiter on 247Sports. West was a three-star recruit ranked 744th overall on the 247Sports Composite, who also saw some serious interest from Ohio State and Virginia Tech later on in the recruiting process.

Throughout West's freshman year, it was pretty clear that he was somebody who had plenty of potential. He went through teaching moments, like when he allowed two touchdowns during the Spartans' game at Indiana, but he also generally held it his own.

Pro Football Focus gave West an overall defensive grade of 61.0. The site also says that he allowed 241 yards across 228 coverage snaps, allowing three touchdowns, but only being penalized once.

"When he's made mistakes, it's like, he's disappointed, he's upset, it hurts," Rossi said last month. "But he's not demoralized, and he's not an excuse maker. So he's going to say, 'Hey, I own it. My mistake. Here's what I'm going to learn from.' And when you have that type of attitude and ability, which he does, then over the course of time, you get really good. And he's on the road to getting and being really good."

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