One of Michigan State's most valuable young players got thrown into the fire last Saturday.

True freshman Kayd Coffman was called upon to make his first career start in a pretty difficult spot against UCLA, the No. 9 team in the nation. He's normally third on the depth chart, but starter Alessio Milivojevic was unavailable with an undisclosed injury, and backup Cam Fancher has missed the last three games with a leg injury he sustained at Wisconsin.

At first glance, Coffman's day in Pasadena looked quite a bit like a true freshman quarterback facing one of the best teams and defenses in the nation. His stat line of 4-for-10 passing for 42 yards and one interception upholds that. A closer look is necessary, though.

Analyzing Coffman's Day

The play that is going to unfortunately be remembered most from Coffman's start is his interception. MSU's defense had just made a huge play to force a fumble and set up the offense inside the red zone. It was the second instance of that happening in the first half, too.

Coffman and the Spartans' offense found the end zone the first time on a wheel route pass to Kenneth Williams. It was actually a nice, decisive throw from Coffman, and it certainly helped that nobody on the Bruins' defense accounted for Williams in the passing game.

Facing a virtually identical situation, Michigan State and Coffman had a great opportunity to retake the lead. The Spartans basically had three points in their pocket already at the 19-yard line. The term "freshman mistake" can be a little cliche sometimes, but Coffman's pick felt like a freshman mistake.

Essentially, Coffman stared down his receiver pretty badly and didn't read the UCLA linebacker, Donavyn Pellot. His eyes never moved from the right side of the field, and Pellot simply read it. What makes matters worse is that Coffman had tight end Brennan Parachek wide open in the middle of the field for a touchdown, thanks to a Bruin coverage bust, if he had shifted off that read.

Picked off and returned a long, long way for UCLA! pic.twitter.com/gLAjFkKVFh

— CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) October 24, 2026

"The ball was not to go to the field (side)," Pat Fitzgerald said about that play after the 28-10 loss. "We don't know why he went to the field; (Coffman) chose to go that way. Credit to their kid for picking it off. He was reading his eyes and just took it right out of his hands, basically. He's an old linebacker, and when you read a young guy's eyes, it's pretty easy."

The start of the game was actually very reassuring for Coffman. He completed the first four passes he attempted, one of which was a very impressive back-shoulder throw to Chrishon McCray to the field side for a 19-yard gain.

Coffman's fifth pass was probably the best one. While rolling to his left, Coffman delivered a strike to Bryson Williams up the left sideline that would have counted for a 22-yard gain had Williams not accidentally stepped out of bounds before receiving the pass. Instead of those 22 yards, Michigan State's offense got an illegal touching penalty.

Impact on Outlook

The main concern relating to Coffman may just be that sophomore QB4 Leo Hannan came into the game and seemed a little sharper, though Hannan's interception was also on the ugly side. Hannan finished his day 9-of-15 through the air for 67 yards and that pick.

Coffman's ceiling still seems like the highest among all the quarterbacks on Michigan State's roster, though. The back-shoulder throw to McCray and the throw to Williams that was nullified by the illegal touching penalty are two of the better throws an MSU quarterback has made this season, especially when one considers Coffman's freshman status. The ball also just comes out really well from Coffman's hand.

At the same time, it's clear that this isn't Coffman's time yet. The pick he threw was a bad one, and Coffman also put the ball in harm's way on a third-and-6 by throwing into double coverage near the sideline. That was another freshman mistake.

All of this is okay, though. The season is firmly in lost territory for Michigan State right now, and the silver lining of Milivojevic's injury was that it offered the coaching staff a really interesting opportunity to evaluate Coffman and Hannan in a real game environment.

The downside, though, is that it's one less game to evaluate Milivojevic, who has had his moments this year but has mostly felt pretty "meh." Fitzgerald and the coaching staff will have to decide what to do at quarterback this offseason, and Milivojevic and Coffman are the two main parts of that puzzle.

Perhaps MSU keeps Milivojevic, but opens up a quarterback competition. Maybe it sticks with Milivojevic for another year as QB1 outright. Perhaps it gets a one-year rental from the portal to take over in 2027 before making Coffman its QB1 in 2028. There are a lot of directions the Spartans can go, and these final four games will inform the staff a lot about what they should do, assuming Milivojevic's injury is minor enough that he'll be available following the bye.