Aidan Beardsley '21 Recruiting Profile

My grandfather played football at Michigan State University (MSU). While he was also the assistant athletic director at MSU for 19 years, and died of a heart attack on Jennison field while jogging, I still look at his leather MSU helmet often wondering, or perhaps not wondering, from where my love of football came. It's no wonder that my dad, my grandfather's son, also played at MSU until he fractured a vertebrae and never played again. My uncle, also on my dad's side and who has also since passed away, also started on the Central Michigan football team his freshman year.

Clearly, football is in my blood. It's everything I've grown up doing, and it's everything I do and think about, especially during the fall (e.g., I'm also really good at playing fantasy football and betting on games with my dad). 

I started football as soon as I was able to play flag. I've played every year since. My freshman year on my high school team I played very well, and I made a name and reputation for myself as an excellent defender. My sophomore year I started on the varsity football team, also as a defender. Although after I was tackled in the back playing special teams, I burst my spleen and nearly died. I was in the intensive care unit (ICU) twice, the second time three weeks after my initial injury and after my spleen burst open again. The second time I saw my life pass before my eyes, which was later evidenced by the fact that I had no blood pressure when the ambulance finally got me to the hospital. Two transfusions, and many family members' and friends' prayers, I recovered. Needless to say, that was the end of my sophomore year on the varsity football team.

Since, though, I have been kicking butt and taking names ;), still as a defender. I want to continue doing this, not only because football is literally in my blood, but also because I genuinely just love the sport. It is my favorite part of my life and I work hard at it, conditioning, and the like to make sure I'm one of if not the best.

Oh - I should also mention that I am also very strong academically. I have either the highest or second highest grade point average (GPA) of the whole football team. So while I say football matters a lot to me, my academics as well as academic past and future matter a lot to me as well.