Alessio Milivojevic is walking into the season with plenty to prove, and not much preseason love to go with it.
A year ago, he was supposed to spend his second season under Jonathan Smith backing up Aidan Chiles. Instead, he ended up taking over for Chiles in the final month of the season before watching his predecessor transfer out. Now the two are back in the same conference, only this time Milivojevic is the one at Northwestern and Chiles is the one trying to make it work in a Chip Kelly offense.
That pairing makes for a fascinating setup. Chiles was once the No. 1 player in the transfer portal, and Kelly’s offenses from his Oregon days were among the most explosive in college football. Now he’s got a quarterback with some of that same electricity, and Milivojevic is on the other side of the league trying to show Michigan State kept the right guy.
Pat Fitzgerald’s first QB1 is being slotted into the same tier as his former teammate in The Athletic’s second annual college football QB tiers. College football personnel placed Milivojevic and Chiles in the sixth tier by themselves, with no fifth tier in between. The list jumps from players like Bryce Underwood and Katin Houser in the fourth tier straight to Milivojevic and Chiles in the sixth.
That placement feels about right for two quarterbacks who still have to prove they can do it over a full season. At the same time, it’s hard to look at either one and say they belong two full tiers behind Underwood and Houser.
Still, the early perception around Milivojevic is clear. Outside of Pick Six Previews reportedly putting Michigan State’s quarterback room 12th in the Big Ten, most evaluations have him near the bottom of the conference.
That’s a long way from where he was supposed to be last July, and it’s not exactly flattering now. But Milivojevic has already shown he can force the issue.
No one expected him to replace Chiles last season, especially after his first two career passes were both intercepted. Yet he still took over.
Now the challenge is bigger. He’s not just trying to hold onto a job - he’s trying to convince people he belongs somewhere closer to the middle of the Big Ten quarterback pack. Ranking him 16th or 17th in the conference after he threw more touchdown passes in four starts than Underwood did all season feels a little harsh.
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