Northwestern has named transfer Aidan Chiles as the Wildcats' starting quarterback, sources told ESPN's Pete Thamel on Monday.
Chiles, who started 20 games over the last two seasons for Michigan State, will debut for the Wildcats against South Dakota State on Sept. 5, with their second game also at home vs. Colorado on Sept. 19.
He beat out sophomore Ryan Boe and West Virginia transfer Nicco Marchiol for the starting job under head coach David Braun.
The 6-foot-3, 225-pound Chiles has 4,116 career passing yards with 27 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. He began his college career at Oregon State and appeared in nine games in 2023 before joining coach Jonathan Smith at Michigan State.
He'll be the centerpiece of the offense under new Northwestern coordinator Chip Kelly, who was brought in to oversee a unit that averaged just 23.4 points per game in 2025, and quarterbacks coach Jerry Neuheisel.
Kelly, after being head coach at Oregon, UCLA and two NFL teams, most recently served as offensive coordinator of the Las Vegas Raiders.
Chiles started for MSU throughout the 2024 season and began 2025 as the team's top quarterback, before being replaced by Alessio Milivojevic in November. A Long Beach, California, native, Chiles was a four-star recruit in the Class of 2023 and enrolled early at Oregon State.
ESPN's Adam Rittenberg contributed to this report.
