Sometimes it just takes the right coach to reach a young man. Northwestern quarterback Aidan Chiles played under head coach Jonathan Smith at both Oregon State and Michigan State, but he never put up consistently good numbers at either destination. At NU, under first year offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, Chiles could finally maximize his untapped potential.
Chiles is a dual threat quarterback, sort of in that Kyler Murray or Cam Ward type of mold, with loads of potential. He entered the season as a late round/UDFA kind of prospect. It is early, of course, and there is a long season ahead of us, but it's easy to envision Chiles developing into a mid-round prospect now.
You knew the Kelly hire was going to pay off in massive dividends, for both
Kelly and Chiles, and you saw that last night in Northwestern's 41-7 destruction of Coach Prime's Colorado at the final game at Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium.
Chiles went 17-of-22 passing for 241 yards and three touchdowns, no interceptions, while also adding two rushing touchdowns. In being both efficient and explosive, he became the first Northwestern quarterback to rack up three passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns in a single game since 1995. (Fitting that we have a 1995 reference, as this was the Gary Barnett Bowl, and Barnett himself was in attendance).
Coach Deion Sanders told it like it is during his postgame press conference, a one should, on the heels of a 34 point blowout loss.
"Just be real," Sanders said. "I mean, we always got to do that, right? That's the only thing I know. I don't know how to be any other way."
Sanders and his staff were thoroughly out-coached by Northwestern coach David Braun and his staff. Coach Sanders was really impressed by the five-touchdown performance turned in from Chiles.
"I tell you what, man- that kid played his butt off." Sanders said. "That's the best football game I've ever seen him play. That's not an insult or a shot at him, but he was effective. What was he 17 for 22?
"Didn't turn the ball over and we wanted him to not scramble, because the scrambling ability really hurt us, but we wanted him to sit in the pocket and throw.
"We wanted to force him into some tough throws and guess what? He made them. He made those throws. Uh that's one of the best games I've seen that young man uh play. And I'm happy for him and proud of him.
"He plays like that, they're going to have a tremendous season."
Sanders is right about Chiles' scrambling ability- it's the Northwestern QB's best selling point. His ability to take broken plays and turn them from nothing into something, via his feet, is definitely a trait that NFL scouts will take notice of.
Braun extolled some of the other virtues that Chiles possesses.
“I was proud of his poise throughout the game, his playmaking ability, his athleticism and his ability to keep his eyes downfield,” Braun said. “That’s really hard to defend.
"I’m just really excited for him to continue to grow in this offense."
This article originally appeared on Draft Wire: NFL Draft Stock Report: Buy- Aidan Chiles, QB Northwestern
