As Michigan State football continues to work through its spring practices, the quarterback room continues to grow its confidence in each other.
The starting job is Aidan Chiles' obviously, but the backup spot has to be an open competition with three freshmen, two of whom are in their second year in the program, along with a true freshman early enrollee battling it out.
Of the two returning freshman quarterbacks, Alessio Milivojevic, who wore No. 14 last season but now wears No. 11, has been impressing both offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren and Chiles.
According to Aidan Champion from Michigan State Spartans on SI, Lindgren is happy with the growth of Milivojevic from last season.
"He showed pretty good maturity for a freshman as far as picking it up and being comfortable with it," Lindgren said of Alessio so far. "And then very accurate with his throwing. I felt like he was able to find a lot of completions and did a nice job in the scrimmages."
Chiles shared his enthusiasm for the work Milivojevic has done and the growth he has had during the offseason.
"I think Alessio has grown a lot since last year," Chiles said. "I really love Alessio. God forbid anything happen to me, but if Alessio takes the reigns, I think he could do it. I believe in Alessio 100 percent. Alessio's a great quarterback and I always tell him, I feel like you could be the best quarterback to come out of here because he's that good."
That's some high praise from Chiles. It's far and away a much better situation in the quarterback room. To have an established starter and to have full confidence in the guy behind him, is a much better situation than Michigan State football has seen in some time.
This group is far better than what the previous regime had in the quarterback room, even with two formerly rated four-stars, who weren't even going to get on the field if the previous head coach had his way.
This is the most confidence I've felt in a quarterback room in years. Sure, the Payton Thorne era had some highs, but you have to go back over 10 years to feel confident in the whole quarterback room.
I'm talking back to the Connor Cook days.