MSU's New QB Coach Could Elevate Aidan Chiles' Career

The offseason excitement in college sports is, of course, generally focused on player movement, as they're the ones who make the plays on the field.

But what is often overlooked is the impact of assistant coaches. Head coaches get the big pay days, but the position coaches are the ones working with these players the most. It's their coaching that goes unnoticed when players make big leaps and transition to the next level of their game.

Michigan State quarterback Aidan Chiles has a chance to take that "big leap" this season, and whether or not that happens will largely depend on the Spartans' new quarterbacks coach, Jon Boyer, who was an offensive assistant for Oregon State when Chiles was a freshman in Corvallis.

Michigan State hired Boyer back in January after he spent six seasons on the Beavers' staff.

"We felt like that was a way for him to have a familiar voice in regards to his [Chiles'] development," said Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith, whom Boyer coached under for six seasons at Oregon State, following the Spartans' first spring practice last month.

For Chiles, personally, the addition meant a great deal.

"That was the best thing to have ever happened to me right now ever since being here, for sure," the soon-to-be junior quarterback said on Tuesday. "Boyer was my coach at Oregon State, and just happy to have him as just another coach here to bounce things off of and just listen to and learn from.

"It's amazing because I feel like he's one of the better coaches that I had at Oregon State, and now, he's one of the better coaches I have here. It's just amazing to see the growth that I gained and everything I've learned just being with him, just learning from the past few weeks being with him.

"So, it's been amazing."

The hire also helps offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren, who had served as the program's quarterbacks coach last season, having to juggle that responsible while overseeing the offense.

"I think about Aidan with his footwork, with his subtle movement and clock," Lindgren said, "and then, there's some things mechanically with some of our younger guys that he [Boyer] has been willing to dive into, sometimes as the coordinator that you just didn't necessarily have as much time to be able to do that because you were worried about the scheme and the whole offense."

Perhaps Boyer is just the person Chiles needed to turn the corner as he prepares for Year 2 as the Spartans' signal-caller.

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