Spartans' Boyer Talks Position Progression, Decision to Join Staff
The Michigan State Spartans are midway through spring practice as they prepare for a bounce year in 2025 with several new members of the coaching staff, including first-year quarterbacks coach Jon Boyer. He spoke to the media on Thursday afternoon, hitting on several key points.
Boyer was a former assistant under head coach Jonathan Smith at Oregon State, working as both an offensive quality control coach and the tight ends coach with the Beavers. After eight seasons in Corvallis, Boyer made the decision to join the Spartans, providing a reason for his choice.
"I think all of it came into play," Boyer said. "It was a tough decision to come back here just because my family and you start to include them in the decision and there's always challenges there, but in this profession, a chance to work for a head coach that truly values work to life balance and then guys in this program that work hard to fit in, a chance to be around them again means a lot.
"When you start to see coaches being retained and coaches wanting to stay with a certain head coach, you know that culture from the top down is going to be in place and that's ultimately what drew us back to coming here."
Smith had previously brought in several of his former assistants at Oregon State, many having prior relationships with starting quarterback, Aidan Chiles. Boyer was asked about what he saw this past season from his former quarterback and what the biggest improvements will be for this season.
There were three keys that Boyer hit on to improve the Spartans' offensive production and each are equally important. He mentioned the value in recognizing defensive coverages while having Chiles trust his lineman to protect him instead of the premature running choices we saw in 2024.
"I think coach [Brian] Lindgren hit on this, but the defensive identification piece is a big deal," Boyer said. "Being able to recognize what we're seeing, that stood out throughout every game and then the next piece of it was simply just understanding, the timing of our drop must match the first read in the progression.
"That was inconsistent in our drop back, in our action game, so that was a major area of focus leading up to spring ball. And then that third piece is just having the pocket presence and the awareness, the subtle movements to kick ball, not run, trust the protection. So those are the three main things that we're focused on for all of them and it was a starting point off of self scout through Aidan."
"I think he's [Chiles] an elite talent and if we can continue to hone in his skills and I think right now he's buying into it, the sky is the limit there," Boyer said. "The rest of the room is right there pushing him, so it's a lot of fun."
Chiles finished last season with 2,415 passing yards on 59.4% completion with 13 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He was also sacked 30 times in 12 games, hoping to improve each of the numbers presented. Boyer will be a major help with his prior experience and Chiles' veteran leadership.
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