CHICAGO — Luke Altmyer used to thumb through magazines and take in the discourse about the top quarterbacks in each class in any given year. In the heart of SEC country, where Altmyer grew up, this conversation was standard operating procedure, and Altmyer dreamed of hearing his name in that conversation.
Being a Power Four quarterback comes with an immense spotlight. Every mistake magnified and every success glorified. Altmyer longed for that kind of spotlight and wanted to embrace everything that comes with having that kind of seat in the college football world.
Then Altmyer waited. He sat at Ole Miss for two years before transferring out of his southern comfort zone to Illinois. He had to rebuild everything about his confidence and ditch the emotional fragility that followed him to the Midwest. The talent was never a question, but over the last 18 months, he’s paired that talent with a bravado that has given him the seat he longed to have all of those years ago.
“To be able to be mentioned with some of the cool names right now in college football that I look back and think as a kid, ‘Man, this is pretty cool,'” Altmyer told Illini Inquirer on the second floor of the Budweiser Brickhouse Tavern in Wrigleyville on Tuesday evening. “I take the business mindset out of it sometimes, and I’m really grateful and thankful for my journey and where I’ve been. It’s always where I wanted to be. It’s always been a dream to be mentioned in those lists.
“I believe I’m at the top, I really do. I have a competitive side to it, but also I’m very grateful and thankful. I think back a lot to where I was a kid in those moments and looking up to the best and wanting to be there, and I’ve worked really hard for it. I think I’ve done the right things to be there, but super thankful. I think back to my 10-year-old self, my 11-year-old self, and I know he knows I did a good job with it. It’s something I’m working hard to get even more recognition. Not in a negative way, but to be my best. I know all that will come. I’m just trying to do my best.”
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