MSU's Milivojevic Seeks Starter's Win at End of Whirlwind Season
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Alessio Milivojevic's career at Michigan State started like a psychological horror film specifically designed for a quarterback. His first two passes of his career were both intercepted, one of which was a pick-six, yet he earned the job as the Spartans' starting quarterback as a redshirt freshman.
While getting the starting job is always a huge step in an athlete's career, the adversity hasn't stopped. Milivojevic is still on a team that has suffered loss after loss. He's only been the starter for the last three losses on MSU's active eight-game losing streak, and now he's on his last chance in 2025 to get his first victory as a starter.
Milivojevic's Outlook
"I think the satisfaction would be great," Milivojevic said on Tuesday about what ending the season with a win against Maryland would mean. "We come in week-in and week-out for... I don't even know how many weeks now, but we've been working every single week, and it would just be amazing to end the season the right way and just get that satisfaction."
With head coach Jonathan Smith's future in East Lansing still up in the air, there's truly no way to know what direction everything goes once the game clock runs out on Saturday. If Smith returns for '26, chances are he'd stick with Milivojevic as QB1. If Smith goes, Milivojevic has definitely played well enough to probably be welcomed back by the new coach, though a quarterback with three years of eligibility remaining who has shown toughness and the ability to play well at the Big Ten level would likely have plenty of suitors in the transfer portal.
Alas, Michigan State's starting quarterback in Week 1 of 2026 is not the thing to be concerned about right now. The Spartans have been playing for pride for a good couple of weeks now, and while no one needs to pretend that the product has suddenly become amazing, it is impressive that the team has stuck together in an era where it is so much easier to just tell your agent to get the transfer portal paperwork ready.
Milivojevic, and really Aidan Chiles, have been a part of that. The quarterback change hasn't seemed to come with division in the locker room, but unity. Chiles, now dealing with an injury, traveled with the team to Iowa and was helping out Milivojevic on the sidelines.
"It's great having him on the sidelines," Milivojevic said about Chiles. "We're great friends. We've helped each other since we've been here, really, through fall camp, through spring ball, everything. But on the sideline, it's great to have him there, just asking him what he sees, because I can't see everything while I'm on the field. But from the sideline, he can get another point of view."
During such a bleak season, Milivojevic has truly been a bright spot. In his three games as QB1, he's thrown for 694 yards, three touchdowns, and just one interception that wasn't really his fault.
His 255-yard performance against Iowa was another step in the right direction, with that much yardage being the second-highest allowed by the Hawkeyes' defense this season (Rutgers' Athan Kaliakmanis, 330).
As said earlier, he's doing this while showing some grit. Milivojevic has been sacked 14 times in his three starts, and he's taken plenty of other hard hits, too. He's actually tied for eighth in the Big Ten in sacks taken (16). Milivojevic has gotten up each time and actually thinks he's feeling more at home in the pocket.
"I think I'm just more comfortable, just going into games with a lot more confidence," Milivojevic said. "Going into the Minnesota game, I was still very confident, but I've never had any really live bullets [or reps], except end-of-game situations."
"I don't know if there's much that I've learned about myself, just kind of reassured myself that I can play at this level," he added. "Because last year, I had a couple, I think two snaps total, so just coming into this year, it was good to get the live reps and just reassure myself that I can still play well."
Those two snaps? A handoff and then his first career pick on his first pass against Rutgers. Just less than a calendar year later, Milivojevic looks like he might be the biggest hope Michigan State has for the future.
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A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
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