Luke Altmyer looks back on his ‘crazy process’ that led him from Ole Miss to Illinois
THIBODAUX, La. — Nobody may understand the ebbs and flows and the consequences the transfer portal has in college football more so than Luke Altmyer.
The former Ole Miss quarterback is now at Illinois and this all happened in less than a month. Last December Altmyer announced his intentions to enter the portal, a decision not considered a shock after Jaxson Dart won the starting job with the Rebels, and before the calendar flipped to January he found a new home.
Making the move from Oxford and the Southeastern Conference to Champagne, Illinois and the Big 10 was part of what Altmyer described as a “crazy process.”
Taking part as a counselor at the Manning Passing Academy this weekend for a second time, Altmyer shed a little light into what last season was like for him when talking to The Ole Miss Spirit on Friday.
“It was a crazy transition, a crazy process from last year’s season to now,” Altmyer said. “A lot of ups and downs. A lot of bbs and flows. A lot of days I didn’t know what I was going to do. Not having a lot of direction and a lot of uncertainty in my life while trying to prepare for games and try not to think too far ahead.”
All throughout the 2022 season a key topic of discussion all around the Ole Miss program bubble, and outside of it, centered around Altmyer and what would he do come the offseason.
Dart was given the keys to the Ole Miss offense and Altmyer made the decision to move on.
This did not ruin a friendship that was formed between the two. After Altmyer entered the portal Dart asked him to see the season all the way through the Texas Bowl. The Starkville native obliged his friend’s request and went through all the bowl practices and prepwork while at the same time having one foot already out the door, something not uncommon in this transfer portal era.
Altmyer went through two seasons at Ole Miss that had two completely different meanings for his career. The 2021 season was one where he was the quarterback in waiting behind Matt Corral.
Corral headed for the NFL that spring but Altmyer did not slide up the depth chart to QB1. Instead Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin went into the transfer portal and brought in Dart from Southern California in January 2022.
“A lot of different factors and things, but I think it provides a lot of perspective of the way life goes,” Altmyer said. “As I grow older I’ll be able to use the experiences and things I’ve learned and all the adversities. …It’s been a crazy transition.”
Thoughts of what Altmyer’s future would hold after the Texas Bowl on December 28 would enter his mind. But he tried to stay in the present as the 2022 season rolled on despite seeing the inevitable writing on the wall.
“With the portal being a thing nowadays I think a lot of players kind of play that scenario throughout their head,” Altmyer said. “Last season I was so caught up in what I was doing. I was putting one foot in front of the other and doing my best to be great (player), or I was, and to be a great teammate. Prepare as best I could and I felt like I did that.
“But the natural thoughts of, ‘What’s December going to look like? January going to look like?’ Those things are going to happen, but I let those situations kind of handle themselves once they did. Those thoughts were there, obviously.”
Dart is now in Altmyer’s situation, to a degree, as the established quarterback and welcoming in fresh talent out of the portal.
The two have stayed in touch with each other since Altmyer’s departure from Ole Miss at the start of the new year.
Though with Dart in Atlmyer’s shoes the two have not spoken recently. The latter was hoping to see his former Ole Miss teammate this weekend at Nicholls State University but Dart had to back out of the MPA on Thursday.
“Our time together we grew a really, really close relationship on and off the field,” Altmyer said. “Being in similar situations and had a lot in common we grew to be really, really good friends. I haven’t talked to him much about his situation, what he’s going through. I know he’s doing really well. A really tough competitor.”
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