Jonathan Smith breaks down where Michigan State's backup quarterback battle stands

The Michigan State Spartans, going into their second season under head coach Jonathan Smith, feel comfortable in their quarterback situation. Aidan Chiles is set to be the starter. However, going into the season, there have been more questions about the backup quarterback spot.

As practice for the 2025 season gets underway, Smith addressed that backup quarterback position. He explained that the coaches dove into that position during the spring, and based on what they saw, decided not to take a backup quarterback from the portal.

“That was a conversation we had going into spring ball was letting those guys get reps,” Jonathan Smith said. “And see what it looks like to see if we needed to go get like maybe a veteran backup quarterback type thing. Alessio [Milivojevic] had a great spring, he’s our backup quarterback. We have a lot of confidence in him. He threw a couple of nice balls today. So, he’s really taken a step that he would be the next man up.”

Alessio Milivojevic is a young quarterback who came to Michigan State as a three-star recruit in the Class of 2024. He was the 739th-ranked player overall and the 49th-ranked quarterback in that recruiting cycle. He’d take a redshirt as a freshman last season, taking two snaps against Rutgers. So, there is an admitted lack of experience, but he’s someone who Jonathan Smith has become comfortable with.

Ultimately, this is how Smith would prefer to develop quarterbacks at Michigan State. Instead of taking transfers to fill gaps, the goal is for the Spartans to recruit guys who fit their system out of high school. Then, Smith wants to develop them and get them experience as more opportunities present themselves over time.

“Totally. Totally. I want to be a place of development. At the quarterback position,” Smith said. “I think about the schemes and the reads and how much more time you get with them. We’d love to be a place where we’re developing quarterbacks. Yeah, they might have to sit a year or two. If we can do that in this day and age, we’d love to do it.”

Of course, the hope for Michigan State is that they don’t need to rely on Milivojevic this season. Instead, the hope is that Chiles is going to be able to take another step in his development as well and propel that Spartans offense forward. He’ll have his first opportunity to show that growth on August 29th against Western Michigan. They’ll later begin Big Ten play on September 20th against USC in Los Angeles.