It has been a wild sequence of events in the college football transfer portal window, especially at the quarterback position. The Northwestern Wildcats made a quiet splash in that market on Tuesday when they landed a commitment from former Michigan State QB Aidan Chiles.
Chiles heads to Evanston after starting in 20 games during the past two seasons for the Spartans. Over that span, he threw for 3,807 yards, 23 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions, while also adding 500 yards rushing and nine touchdowns on the ground. After beginning his college career as a backup at Oregon State, Chiles followed head coach Jonathan Smith to East Lansing, but his time at Michigan State filled with ups and downs. A new scene for his final season of eligibility felt inevitable after Chiles sat out the back half of last season with an injury and Smith was fired.
Chiles was a highly rated four-star prospect coming out of high school that many people were high on as a college quarterback and has shown promising flashes. One of his most impressive performances came this past season against a top-ranked Indiana defense. In that game, Chiles completed 27 of 33 passes for 243 yards, posting a 95.9 QBR. His completion total and passing yardage were the most and second-most (Julian Sayin), allowed by Indiana all season.
Chiles will now work with new Northwestern offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, who is one of the most respected offensive minds in college football. Kelly is back in the college game after another brief stint in the NFL and prior to that helped lead Ohio State to a national championship as their OC. Northwestern has also added Jerry Neuheisel as quarterbacks coach, who broke onto the scene this past year as UCLA’s interim offensive coordinator. After several years of below-average quarterback and offensive play, these moves signal a clear effort by head coach David Braun to improve on that side of the ball.
Northwestern is certainly never thought of as a prominent college football program, and seven win seasons are typically considered a successful year in Evanston. However, with a new stadium coming next season and the additions of Chip Kelly and Aidan Chiles, it feels like the Wildcats may be looking to become more competitive in this era where spending money is imperative to be good in college football.