Last July, Alessio Milivojevic was preparing to play the role of Aidan Chiles’ backup in year two of the Jonathan Smith era. He probably never expected that he would be taking over for Chiles in the final month of the season before watching his predecessor transfer out.
Now he’s a Big Ten foe after transferring to Northwestern.
Chiles was once the No. 1 player in the transfer portal and now he’s playing quarterback for a Chip Kelly-led offense at Northwestern. That’s going to be a really interesting combo. Kelly’s offenses during the prime Oregon days were some of the most electric in college football history. Now he’s coaching a quarterback who has a little bit of that electricity in his game.
Milivojevic is going to be tasked with proving that Michigan State kept the right quarterback. He’s Pat Fitzgerald’s first QB1, and he’s going to begin the season on the same exact tier of Big Ten quarterbacks as his former teammate.
Our second annual college football QB tiers are back 🏈
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) July 21, 2026
Here’s how CFB personnel ranked the Big Ten starters: pic.twitter.com/Vq9amXs7Lr
According to The Athletic, college football personnel put Milivojevic and Chiles in the sixth tier all by themselves. There’s not even a fifth tier, apparently, as it goes from guys like Bryce Underwood and Katin Houser in the fourth tier right to Mlivojevic and Chiles in the sixth tier. Honestly, that’s where both guys are going to be until they prove they can be consistent for an entire season.
I’d say putting them on the same tier is probably correct, but I also don’t think either once is that bad that they’re two entire tiers behind Underwood and Houser, unless it was a typo.
Alessio Milivojevic is getting no preseason respect
Other than Pick Six Previews reportedly ranking Michigan State’s quarterback room 12th in the Big Ten, most “experts” have Milivojevic ranked near the bottom of the conference.
I’m not sure that’s very fair, but until he proves himself for an entire season, that’s how it’s going to be.
No one thought that Milivojevic was going to take over for Chiles last season, especially when his first two career passes happened to be interceptions, but he did. Now no one thinks that he’s a top-half of the Big Ten quarterback, but he’s going to prove people wrong once again.
I don’t think Milivojevic deserves all the respect in the world yet, but ranking him 16th or 17th-best quarterback in the conference after throwing more touchdown passes in four starts than Underwood did all season is a little ridiculous. Just a tad.
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