Michigan State quarterback Alessio Milivojevic left the field on November 14 against Washington with 4:27 left in the second quarter, making a medical tent stop before heading to the locker room with trainers. The hit, a helmet-to-left-arm collision from Washington linebacker Jacob Manu, sent Milivojevic out of a game where he had already completed seven of 12 passes for 108 yards. This is a brutal blow for a Spartans team already fighting to get healthy.
The Injury Bug Just Keeps Biting MSU’s Offense
The hit on Milivojevic came on a scramble play where he pump faked and ran for two yards before Manu made contact. This wasn’t the only concern for the Spartans’ offense on that drive. Just one play earlier, left guard Conner Moore took a hit to the knee from a teammate, Brandon Tullis, who had been tackled into him. Moore, after stretching his knee in the medical tent, remained on the sideline. It’s tough to see a team struggle to keep its key players healthy, and these back-to-back hits to important offensive pieces are just salt in the wound for Michigan State’s 3-6 (1-5 Big Ten) season.
A Season Of Setbacks For Michigan State’s Quarterback
Taking over for Milivojevic was backup quarterback Cam Fancher, who himself only just returned to play on October 3 at Wisconsin after missing four games with a knee injury. It feels like a revolving door in that QB room. Milivojevic’s season stats before this latest injury stand at 1,451 yards, seven touchdowns, and three interceptions. He had already missed a game earlier in the season against UCLA with a thumb injury. He even played through that injury just last week in a tough 15-6 win over Michigan, earning praise from coaches and teammates for his grit. To see him go down again after showing that kind of toughness, it just stings. And it’s not just the offense, either: defensive tackle Ben Roberts also left the game early in the first quarter after reaggravating an injury from three weeks ago at UCLA, returning to the sideline in street clothes. For Michigan State, with a 5-4 (2-4) Washington team to contend with, the health of its roster is going to be the biggest challenge moving forward.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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