Pat Fitzgerald has a lot to do as Michigan State’s new football coach, but retaining a starting quarterback isn’t one of them.

Alessio Milivojevic, the redshirt freshman quarterback, who started Michigan State’s final four games, announced his intention to return in 2026 on Instagram with the caption “Run it back.”

Throughout four starts and five more appearances as a backup, Milivojevic finished the season having completed 111-of-173 passes (64.2%) for 1,267 yards and 10 touchdowns, plus three interceptions. He showed a knack for hanging in the pocket to deliver throws at the cost of his own comfort, taking 16 sacks on the year including 12 in his first two starts.

Those numbers are comparable to the totals of Chiles, who threw for 1,392 yards on 63.1% completion for a matching 10 touchdowns and three interceptions. But where Chiles’ tendency to scramble out of pressure caused problems along with occasional production, Milivojevic looked steadier running the offense as a first-time starter.

Michigan State finished the season 4-8 (1-8 Big Ten) and went 1-3 in Milivojevic’s four games as the starter, with an overtime loss at Minnesota in his first start and a walk-off loss at Iowa. Milivojevic’s 292-yard, four-touchdown game against Maryland at Ford Field snapped an eight-game losing streak to end the season, and Jonathan Smith’s tenure, with a win.

Hailing from Naperville, Illinois — right in the old stomping grounds of former Northwestern coach Fitzgerald — Milivojevic was a three-star recruit with mostly MAC offers when former MSU coach Smith added him to his first recruiting class late in the 2024 cycle. After redshirting his freshman year and throwing one pass — a pick — in his only appearance, Milivojevic took the reins from Chiles.

Chiles’ future with the Spartans is unknown, and the quarterback has made no indication of his future plans after being unseated as the starter.

Milivojevic’s high school teammate and friend, Zach Washington, is a three-star wide receiver who committed to Smith for this year’s recruiting class and became one of 18 signees to Fitzgerald’s current inaugural class. Fitzgerald was hired Monday, after Smith’s firing Sunday.