Assessing Michigan State's Quarterback Situation and 2024 Options
The early signing period, beginning on December 20, is approaching fast. The majority of high school recruits from the class of 2024 will sign their national letters of intent during this three-day window.
Michigan State currently has one of the smallest recruiting classes in the country, but head coach Jonathan Smith and his staff are trying to bring in as many players as possible during this early signing period. The Spartans have lost high school recruits and players to the transfer portal in recent weeks, but are slowly rebuilding the roster.
The biggest addition thus far has been Oregon State transfer quarterback Aidan Chiles, who one of the top overall players in the portal. Chiles played for Smith at Oregon State last season and is presumed to be the Spartans’ starter for the 2024 season. However, the Spartans still need to add more signal-callers to compete and add depth to the quarterback room.
Michigan State took another step towards that on Sunday when Smith and Co. earned a commitment from three-star Wheaton (Ill.) St. Francis quarterback Alessio Milivojevic. The 6-foot-3, 210-pounder was one of the first players the Spartans started recruiting when Smith got hired. Milivojevic had been committed to Ball State since June, but has been rising up recruiting boards after a stellar senior season.
Milivojevic combined for 49 total touchdowns and 3,739 total yards from scrimmage during his senior year at St. Francis High School. Named first team All-State in Illinois’ Division 5A, Milivojevic throws an accurate deep ball and has made highlight plays with his ability to throw on the run. He’s labeled a pocket-passer, but the Illinois native has shown toughness as a runner and can be tough to bring down.
Smith is building the quarterback room from scratch and Milivojevic could be MSU’s second option after Chiles. Players who have flown a bit under the radar, like this high school senior, are the types of guys Smith had success with at Oregon State.
Still, Michigan State will want to carry more than two scholarship quarterbacks on its roster next season. With Chiles projected to be the future starter, the chances of adding another highly-rated transfer portal quarterback isn’t likely. This could mean the Spartans may have to add another quarterback through the high school ranks.
One option is four-star Greenwood (Ind.) Center Grove quarterback Tyler Cherry, who recently decommitted from Duke this past weekend. The 6-foot-5, 205-pounder was set to be the next signal-caller of the Blue Devils before Duke lost head coach Mike Elko for the same position at Texas A&M. Now, Cherry is exploring other options and appears to be down to Indiana and Michigan State.
Cherry visited East Lansing last weekend (Dec. 9) and visited Bloomington this past weekend (Dec. 16). According to 247Sports composite rankings, Cherry is considered the No. 301 overall prospect, No. 20 quarterback and No. 5 player out of Indiana in the class of 2024. He’s coming off a big senior season in which he completed 218-of-305 pass attempts for 3,156 yards and 34 touchdowns against six interceptions. As a junior, Cherry completed 65 percent of this attempts for 2,269 yards and 22 touchdowns while leading Center Grove to a state championship.
The battle between Michigan State and Indiana for Cherry will be an interesting one with the early signing period approaching fast. Obviously, the Spartans offer more and have had much more program success both recently and throughout history than the Hoosiers, but Indiana may be able to sell Cherry on a faster track towards playing time. MSU likely has Chiles as its starter for the next 2-3 years, while he could realistically start for the Hoosiers in 2024 or 2025. We should find out this week what Cherry ultimately values more.
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