Michigan State Spartans 2026 Position Group Preview Series: Quarterbacks

We reach the final position group for the Michigan State offense with the group that most symbolically represents the end of the Jonathan Smith era. Gone is Aiden Chiles, the QB that Smith brought with him from Oregon State to be the Spartans’ field general. In his place, new head coach Pat Fitzgerald is turning over the keys to the guy who ended up replacing Chiles in the final four games of 2025, Alessio Milivojevic… who was recruited by Jonathan Smith. Okay, maybe we aren’t out of the woods yet. The good news is that the Spartans did see improved quarterback play in the final month of last year under Alessio than they did for the majority of the two seasons that Chiles was under center. Can Milivojevic, with an offseason spent as the presumed incumbent starter, take a step (or a few step) in his development?

For a roster with a ton of turnover – 32 new transfers and 30 incoming freshmen – having a holdover in the most important position should be immensely valuable. Beyond the incumbent, MSU has a pair of incoming freshmen, a redshirt freshman, and a transfer redshirt senior [editor’s note: I don’t know if the term “redshirt” will still be used with the new 5-in-5, but for now it is still being used on MSU’s website as well as elsewhere) to round out the room.

Departed Players: 

A look at who’s gone from the 2025 team:

• Aiden Chiles – started 8 games; 128/203; 1,392 yards; 10 TDs; 3 INTs; transfer —> Northwestern
• Ryland Jessee – did not see action; stuck in transfer portal

I am going to quickly interject some commentary on the Wild West that is the portal. Ryland Jessee was a scholarship player for the past two years. Per ESPN, he had the same 3-star/75-grade that Milivojevic had in the 2024 class. His decision to go to the portal was, I presume, a result of MSU firing the coach who recruited him as well as a desire for a chance at playing time. But with 2 years of no game action to his name, there is nothing to motivate another program to bring him in. We, the public, know there is a possibility for portal entrants to not find a new home with the astronomical number of players looking to transfer each season, so it seems like a fair assumption that the players know it too. I don’t know what I would like to see be done about this to help prevent guys from ending up without a scholarship anywhere, but I do think this is an issue that should be talked about more as it is a significant problem that the NCAA has created due to the easing of restrictions they pushed forward. It is a bad look to be leaving any number of former scholarship athletes no longer on scholarship, even if it was a result of the players’ own poor decisions to enter the portal, in my humble opinion.

Back to players who did see the field, Aiden Chiles is heading to the former home of our new head coach, Pat Fitzgerald. As of this writing, Chiles is being predicted to win the starting role at Northwestern. That will just be another layer to the story when the Wildcats come to East Lansing on October 17. It did not take long after arriving in East Lansing for even the most casual observer to see that Chiles had a low ceiling and, at times, a very low floor. I don’t know that any Spartan fan is going to miss his play.

Returning Players: 

• #11 Alessio Milivojevic (RS So., 6’3”, 223#) – 9 games, 4 starts; 111/173; 1,267 yards; 10 TDs; 3 INTs

• #15 Leo Hannan (RS Fr., 6’3”, 221#) – no game action

It was to many fans delight last season when Milivojevic took over as the starting quarterback. While he never stuffed the stat sheet in the five games he came on in relief of Chiles, he did offer enough of a glimpse in that limited action to pique the curiosity of Spartan Nation. Overall, his performance in his 4 starts to close the year validated that he was the better option and deserved to have his opportunity to lead the team.

In 8 starts last year, Chiles surpassed 250 yards passing just once with a high of 270; in 4 starts, Milivojevic reached that threshold three times with a high mark of 311 in his first start and 292 in the season finale. One other thing that Milivojevic did better than Chiles? Win a Big Ten game, which he acomplished in a 4-TD performance in the season finale against Maryland. Alessio’s 10 TDs equaled his predecessor’s, though in fewer throws and less time on the field.

The big red mark on Milivojevic’s season totals is his rushing yards. For the year, he ended with -59 yards. But this is because in college, they count sack yardage against your rushing totals, and in his first start, Milivojevic was sacked 7 times by Minnesota, contributing to a -53 rushing output that day. To his credit, his sack stats improved after that, as the opposing defense got to him 5, 2, and 0 times in the final three games of 2025.

I think the biggest difference we saw between Chiles and Milivojevic was an intangible item from off the box score. The awareness, pocket presence, and decision-making all were areas where the replacement demonstrated superiority over the replaced. And I believe this is where we really need to see even more from our young quarterback in 2026 for MSU to have any success. You have read our previews on the skill position players; it is not like Alessio has a treasure trove of proven pass-catchers at his disposal. Aside from what should be a better RB room, we are going to need Alessio, with help from the revamped O-Line, to read defenses before the snap, make adjustments at the line when needed, have the composure to go through his progressions, remain calm and move around in the pocket, and deliver accurate passes. I am not expecting him to have the luxury of throwing to open receivers on the regular. We will need Alessio to step up from a decent start to his life as a starter, to help keep drives alive, and to occasionally make something out of nothing. With a defense that is also a question mark at this point, strong quarterback play is going to be needed for us to outscore our opponents.

Leo Hannan, the other returning quarterback from the 2025 roster, took a redshirt year, so he can now play four more seasons of college ball while 2026 freshmen get to potentially play in five seasons. ESPN ranked him as the 28th best QB in his class.

New Players: 

• #2 Cam Fancher (6th year, 6’0”, 207#) – 3 games, 2 starts at Central Florida; 41/72; 333 yards. Career: 37 games, 28 starts at Marshall, Florida Atlantic, and Central Florida; 503/834; 5,627 yards; 27 TDs; 23 INTs.
• #10 Kayd Coffman (Fr., 6’2”, 206#) – On3: 4-star, 91.16 grade, QB #16
• #23 Peyton Babbitt (Fr.; 6’0’, 200#) – On3: no ranking

The safe bet would be on Cam Fancher securing the QB2 role as he is the only one among the non-Alessio QBs to have thrown a pass in college. The concern though is that Fancher just might not be too good, and he may have already seen regression in his game. Of course, it is hard to draw conclusions when comparing across different seasons at different schools in different conferences. What is clear is that his completion percentage, TD frequency, and RTG all decreased over his last three seasons. He also has had a 1:1 TD:INT ratio over that stretch.

So is QB2 in play for any of the freshmen, true or redshirt? Kayd Coffman is the highest rated QB recruit MSU has had since Katin Houser in 2022; On3 had Houser just higher at 91.61. If there is room for debate here, he would be the most likely challenger to Fancher. In his high school senior season, he threw for 2,787 yards and 35 TDs on 194/299 passing. He also rushed for 695 yards and 8 more TDs in leading his school to the Michigan D1 semifinals.

I would say that if Alessio is having a bad game early in the season and needs to be pulled, then Fitzgerald would insert Fancher to finish the game. On the other hand, if this is later in the year and something happens to Milivojevic and a new starter needs to be named, even if just for a game, I would think it better to go with someone who has a future in the program. This will be Fancher’s last year of college eligibility, so no benefit in seeing what we have in him if the season has gone south.

2026 Projection:

Expected Starter: Alessio Milivojevic

Primary Backups: Cam Fancher, Kayd Coffman

What say you, TOC Nation? Based on what you saw at the end of 2025, do you expect Milivojevic to be even better in 2026? Or do you think we may see another changing of the guard this season?

Don’t forget to check out episode 3 of Red Cedar Rundown.