MSU's Blue Adams is High on This True Freshman
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Michigan State secondary coach Blue Adams had some good things to say about his unit and one true freshman while speaking with the press on Wednesday prior to the Spartans' game against Boston College this coming Saturday.
MSU's secondary played well during its 23-6 victory over Western Michigan in Week 1, holding the Broncos to only 188 yards through the air on 5.7 yards per attempt. The big thing for the Spartans to work on will be limiting big plays -- WMU had three plays of 30 yards or more through the air that accounted for 107 of its passing yards.
One part of that solid day for Adams' players was the collegiate debut of Aydan West. The true freshman out of Gaithersburg, Maryland, played 21 total snaps last Friday; 16 of those snaps came on defense and an additional five were on special teams. Of his 16 defensive snaps, West was in coverage 13 times, where he didn't allow a completion and was only was targeted once.
What Adams said about West
"You talk about a young dude that comes in and he's just so eager and wants to learn and lives in my office," Adams said about West. "This guy here, it's been a pleasure to get this dude that's wired the way that he is (and) understands balls the way that he does.
"He just goes out there and he just works. He takes the information from the older guys, and he just works."
West was only one of three true freshmen that got into the game against WMU. The others were defensive lineman Derrick Simmons and long snapper Jack Wills. Neither matched West's 21 total snaps, though; Simmons played 16 total plays and Wills made 10 snaps.
West's High School Recruitment
Getting West was one of the biggest wins for Michigan State and head coach Jonathan Smith for the 2025 recruiting class.
West was a high three-star recruit, and that meant MSU was not the only big program that recruited him hard. The corner verbally committed to MSU back in June 2024, but the Spartans had to weather two late pushes from other schools before he signed.
In the month before West put pen to paper, he officially visited both Ohio State and Virginia Tech. He also had offers from Wake Forest (where he was recruited by now-MSU safeties coach James Adams), Penn State, Minnesota, Cincinnati; his next opponent, Boston College; and several others.
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A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
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