Aidan Chiles | QB Michigan State Football | On being named a captain, and more

Intro what suggestion can you give to other leaders to be more vocal to help your team um I believe I just started being a vocal leader you know I think I we had to find that leadership somewhere and I chose to take that role and step up and decided to you know bring the energy every day and talk to my teammates and just communicate with them throughout the practices and throughout fall Camp you know fall Camp gets tiring so I mean you have to be there somebody has to bring energy every day and I chose to be that guy I mean uh Coach Peterson came in and talked to us coach Chris Pete came in and talked to us and he talked about wave work attention Vibe and enthusiasm and somebody has to bring it in every day and I mean that's really all you can do suggestions for anybody that wants to be a leader and wants to take that role you got to come in and have wave you got to come in and have those things those traits so that you can be the leader you want to be it's On being named a captain rare it's rare for um a true sophomore it's not even 19 yet to be named a captain um just first off how did you learn about it your initial reaction to the opportunity at hand and how secondly how does this just reiterate the trust that John Smith has in you to lead this team moving forward very surprised first of all you know um I don't even I mean coach Smith obviously I mean he talked about he chose like you know the captains off of how the team chose I believe the team chose everybody they wrote who they wanted as captains and just shows me that the team really believes in me as a leader and believes in my abilities to help them grow as a team and also helped them help me grow as a person as a player so um it just shows that um I have the traits and that the team also has the traits and they believe that I have the traits and we can do this thing so um in the sometime On being consistent earlier in Fall Camp um Brian was talking about challenging you get they've been challenged you to be uh consistent in the maturity I guess how do you describe the approach cuz you seem like you're obviously kind of naturally fun easy going guy um they put me in tough situations every day in practice I mean we go out two minute and stuff like that and you know third down situations and all the other things and just Fus on consistency you know being able to get those third Downs every time we need them uh focus in critical conditions critical conditions critical situations my fa and um just be able to go out there and just play ball you know um I mean the maturity aspect it just comes with the game it comes with learning and comes to watching film studying with the coaches studying with my team figuring out uh where to go with the ball when to go with when to go there um I mean it just it comes with the growth what's been your biggest On his biggest improvement Improvement this ball Camp would you say I would say um me being calm in the pocket I mean just being able to just not take off so early and being able to sit there and trust my own line trust my abilities to get the ball out trust my receivers to get open uh basically building trust and maturing overall just maturing and being able to just play the game as an older guy now more than a week before kickoff how On his first start much are you looking forward to that personally obviously the team you know long off season but you know be your first start and your first chance to you know show what you can do at at this level in that role yeah I mean I'm excited man we get to play against somebody other than ourselves you know it's been a long time coming and um I've been here I got here in January it's been what eight months eight n months and it's just um it's exciting to finally play somebody else um feel like we're ready we can do a lot of things so we just have to put all together what does leadership look like On being a captain to you when you when you say I want to be a captain that looks like this that these guys this what does that look like you got to be a guy that everybody wants to follow everybody believes every word you say and you got to be a guy that comes in every day with energy you know that's what I try to do um again very surprised when they chose me as a captain you know I'm a young guy didn't think I was going to get that opportunity but I did and um a lot of is because um I feel like I know everybody on the team I talk to everybody on the team build a relationship with everybody on the team uh communicate well and just just I'm able to just you know play my game with everybody like we all come together as one back in April you said On working on his Le working on your Le is something that wanted to grow how did that grow in that time allow I think it just flipped the switch I mean it came with me coming in with energy you know we sometimes like we don't make a big we make a big play and we don't go celebrating and it's just like okay we got to go do this like we're we're not going to look like this on Friday this next Friday coming up I mean we we score if we go score we're going to go celebrate like that's what we're going to do so um just bringing the energy to the team every day and just being able to just bring people with you that's what that's what I try to do cordak said that he sees you On talking to teammates sometimes in the defensive guys is that something you've always done as long as you play football as position you make a point of that even sort of chat everybody the team um I wouldn't say I make a point of it I'm just saying like I'm just a friendly guy you know I'm out here I play with my these my teammates I'm going go to war with these guys so I mean um I go out there and talk to everybody and I'm like not they'll tell you I'm the first one I'll tell them I hate DBS I'll tell them I'm the first guy to tell you that but again like off the field even on the field like I'll go over there talk to them be like okay we got to do this like I need to look like this what you got to do like we just got to talk to each other and um I think we're getting way better at that with you know emotions and being able to communicate with one another and it's become way easier since the spring now just being able to finally we're all the team now nobody else can come in nobody else can leave it's just you know we're here to play ball we're here to play ball look at five C for the transfers On building a leadership group the last two years three you guys first year how do you Bond do you kind of build a leadership group from that ground level I mean it's starts well U all those guys are older than me first of all you know so but they're great guys I mean it it starts with just the energy they bring to the table it also starts with just how they communicate with everybody they're leaders they're like most of the four Dudes in those room are my mentors like that's how I see them and I really appreciate them and I appreciate the team for giving me the opportunity to be a part of that group and it's just um I don't know it's a big honor it's a great honor and and it's just amazing to be a part of that group you said you said something about the On being a teammate idea nobody can nobody else can come in nobody else can leave and the realities of college football now these days there are going to be lots of Windows when those windows no longer exist and you do have your team as that in sort of this modern era where the bonds are really formed where you understand this person is with me and this is sort of what you know we're in this together is that I guess once that window is closed and you know these are your teammates to does something change I mean I'm going to shoot everybody the same regardless uh if they're going to stay here or not I'm going to treat them like they're my teammate from then until they until they're out of here until they like we going to fight together we go to war together until they leave like that's just how it is um I see everybody the same we all here we have one goal we were here to win games and I mean it's nothing bigger than that looking forward to showing yourself On next week personally on Friday next week I can hear you I'm sorry I'm sorry what are you looking forward to showing personally next Friday when you get out there I'm here to play football I mean I'm looking forward to this team playing against somebody else and finally showing what we can do as a as a unit I mean I think a lot of people cter this out and I love it personally me I love being countered out love being Underdog and all I'm saying is like if you a better in person take the over that's how I feel how today was kind of the On starting the game from scratch page turning day you know to where you start game from how was it different maybe earlier in the week I that again I apologize practiced I was different maybe than earlier in the week in Camp no difference no difference we came ready we play football and we have the same enthusiasm same energy same energy we had during fall Camp I mean you get tired during fall camp we also we probably tired today but we came out with energy we came out and played defense played their hard out offense did what they had to do and I mean we're going to come back in Friday and do the same thing you feel you mentioned the On the intensity level of the team you feel the intensity level kind of of course I mean it's been here since day one of fall camp like fall camp we came with energy I everybody's excited to be here and I feel like everybody's still excited to be here and I think the fact that they're excited be here shows a lot and also shows that they're excited to play somebody else like I've said before I mean we're not we don't want to play against each other no more we're tired of that tner Mo said that you're the On what keeps him grounded same dude who went to Oregon State last season you know even though that you're in this elevated role probably bigger name more hype here and all that um just what what keeps you grounded and how do you think you might approach game week differently being the starter versus like knowing that you're back um what keeps me grounded I mean I was raised this way my parents did a great job they taught me like you know never get too high never get too low um I really appreciate them for that because like without them I probably could have lost my head and um especially with all the attention I'm getting I I mean I know it's there don't try to pay that much attention to it but the fact that I can keep myself grounded and being able to just forget about it and play my game it shows a lot it shows that how much they've really put into me and then um going in as a starter I mean same game you know watch film like everybody else put your pads on like everybody else go out there put your cleats on like everybody else you just here to play football here to win games just ma next On making a statement Friday is not only going to be your first game but it's going to set the tone the rest of the season how important is that to you know to make a statement not only for the team but to just the rest of the conference the rest of possible like I said before if you bet take the On game planning over are you still you still in uh internal mode like focusing on yourself or you guys start more fa stuff um I mean yeah we started game planning this week um I mean we're going to game plan for next weekend and a half and that's how it goes right now we'll see what what happens throughout the weeks good yeah