Alessio Milivojevic is preparing to start Michigan State's season opener against Toledo on Friday night, and the quarterback says this one feels different.
“I mean, there’s excitement for every football game, but this just feels different,” Milivojevic said this week. “It's hard to explain. I'm just ready to get back out there on Friday and play.”
That is a notable turn for a quarterback whose Michigan State career has already included plenty of rough moments. In 2024, Milivojevic made his first collegiate appearance in the final minutes of a season-ending loss to Rutgers and threw his first collegiate pass to the other team. Last year, he also threw a pick-6 late in Michigan State’s season-opening win over Western Michigan.
A tougher stretch last fall
Milivojevic’s path into the lineup came last fall, when Jonathan Smith benched Aidan Chiles and Milivojevic became the starter for Michigan State. His third start came at Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium, where Pat Fitzgerald watched from the sideline, and Michigan State lost 20-17 after blowing a fourth-quarter lead.
That game was followed by two more physical tests. Milivojevic was sacked seven times against Minnesota and five times against Penn State in consecutive games, a stretch that helped shape the public view of him as a quarterback who kept getting back up.
Fitzgerald praised that part of Milivojevic’s game this summer at Big Ten Media Days, describing him as a tough player who absorbed a lot and continued playing. Milivojevic said the comments meant a lot to him, especially coming from a longtime Big Ten coach who will now be on Michigan State’s staff.
“My mouth may have been bleeding, I may have been coughing up blood,” Milivojevic said in discussing the Iowa hit and Fitzgerald’s reaction. “But it’s very cool to hear a guy who has been through the Big Ten for many, many years as a head coach talk about you like that. And now he’ll be my coach. And I can show him in person how I am a tough guy.”
What Fitzgerald saw
Fitzgerald said Milivojevic did important work all offseason and pointed first to his leadership and work ethic. He also made clear why the quarterback spot matters so much.
“It’s critical,” Fitzgerald said. “When you have a quarterback, you’ve got a chance.”
He added that Milivojevic “has just done a terrific job all offseason, first from a leadership standpoint and then from a work-ethic standpoint. He has just grinded through everything we’ve asked him to do.”
Milivojevic has also been described as earning a captain’s role during spring and summer work, another sign that Michigan State views him as more than just a temporary answer under center.
Now the next step is simple: carry that offseason confidence into game action. After two early interceptions in two appearances before this season-opening opportunity, Milivojevic gets a chance to reset his standing in East Lansing when Michigan State opens against Toledo.
