Let’s clear up what Aidan Chiles actually said on Thursday

Don’t you just love when quotes get taken way out of context? No? Me neither.

It’s actually the worst.

Nothing is worse in sports media than taking a quote from a player or coach and misinterpreting it by not quoting the person correctly or cutting off pieces of the quote to completely change what they were saying.

Unfortunately, that’s what happened to Aidan Chiles on Thursday after Michigan State football’s second fall practice.

Chiles was asked about his confidence in himself and of course he said he has high expectations for himself. What else is he supposed to say? But the answer he gave isn’t what went viral online Thursday afternoon.

Here’s the “quote” that people were claiming Chiles said that was in fact not accurate.

“I think I'm the best quarterback in the Big Ten and in the country.”

Don’t get me wrong, I would love the confidence from Chiles in saying this, but there’s a difference between cockiness and confidence and this definitely crosses that line. Especially from someone who hasn’t started a game in college yet, something like this probably shouldn’t be said out loud.

But thankfully Chiles didn’t say this, and what he actually said wasn’t even remotely close to what was spread online.

"Everybody has the mentality to think that I'm the best quarterback in the Big Ten... my job is to prove it."

- Aidan Chiles

There you have it, that’s what Chiles actually said to the media on Thursday. Chiles never said that he personally thinks he’s the best quarterback in the conference or country, he said everyone thinks that they are, and it’s his job to go and prove it. In other words, let his play on the field do the talking for him.

This is the perfect attitude to have, saying that he thinks he could be the best but that he needs to prove it. That’s the perfect amount of confidence without being too cocky.

It’s a shame that people took this quote for something it never was, but I’m glad members of the media were able to clear it up pretty quickly.