EIU week: Illini QB Luke Altmyer

game how you feel super excited exciting times for sure for for everybody you know you go through camp three four weeks where you get tired I know those offensive linen defens linen get tired of hitting up on each other every single day and receivers DBS get tired of going uh going up against each other every day so it's exciting to go against an opponent um and get into a 12we season where you've been preparing since January 4 so I'm looking forward to it going to be really cool how much more comfortable are you this time around going into week one yeah extremely um you know obviously like same feeling sort of going into week one last year was really excited and um really confident too going into week one too but man feel like I'm on a whole new level of you know comfort and uh you know you know between the ears and you know within the offense physically I feel like I'm in just a really good spot with um obviously within myself but with my teammates and really tapped in you know what my coaches really U are looking forward to to to an accomplish giv you what you learn about your offense throughout training camp that that maybe you didn't know going in yeah I think we got a chance to be really really explosive um you know already had a feeling of that you know through spring and um you know with the talent we were return to and just the you know the schemes that we have man we're going to um I think we have a really really awesome chance to to to make a lot of noise and be explosive but obviously that comes with you know execution of details fundamentals and so many things and I know these guys are really honed into doing that because of their work ethic and how much they put into it but um it's been really cool to Jael with a lot of new guys like JC um zakari and um you know a whole a whole lot of new guys man um a lot of younger receivers you know stepping up to and being asked to put in really big big big roles coming up so um and they're ready for it and they're really excited and I'm excited to watch them go play what did you learn about dealing with pressure communicating with that um at this level you know last year going through all that yeah I mean last year was my first year as a starter um you know I kind of had a taste of that played a little bit where I was at for 2 years and um you know certainly at the colle you you experienced a little bit of um you know push back or whatever you want to call it um you know especially in this day and age on social media and just all the uh the ways you can hear voices um it's so easy for that to penetrate you know your ears but um you know just I've had a a lot of help you know this offseason um really in my spiritual life my emotional and mental mental life and um you know with helps of different people I've mentioned it before um but man that's the game changer you know really finding that confidence between the ears man because you know God has gift me with so much talent and I'm I'm realizing that and um and I'm really tapped into you know using the gifts he's given me to to be a great leader one but um to you know display you know glory for him through my play I hope it's working um no it's working but um you know used it all throughout spring and the spring game and all throughout the practices and um even throughout the scrimmages you know we made sure to make sure all the rules were were in play for those scrimmages like the 15sec cut off and uh clock resets there's so many things that go into it but it's been smooth I really I really like it being able to you know audibly hear uh you know coach leny's voice and um hearing the play call instead of deciphering you know hand signals you know so so obviously that that makes it easier for me and mainly really in helping me you know navigate teammates and being able to relay calls to uh my guys up front and every everybody around me you mentioned the cut cut off you glad he can't talk to you during the FL bad good Lord he likes he likes to he likes to give information he's a very informative person so right yeah yeah I don't know how he feels about it but um yeah it's definitely good that it cuts off so allows me to go play um not have you know analysis through paralysis all that stuff so um it's good did you do that sometimes last year kind of over analyze things at times did last year did you do that a little bit yeah a little bit you know you're going to your first year of a start you want to you know have a good impression obviously and um make a lot of noise and you know like I like I've said before man you know 2022 Illinois had a incredible team and you know being you know thrusted into that role being that quarterback I wanted to um you know keep that momentum going so you know I put a lot of pressure on myself which um you know shook me up a little bit at times but um I think it was good for me because now you know I'm you know I'm a lot a lot stronger from it and know how to deal with it and I think I'm in a good spot to to really do some cool things this year with my teammates what does a second consecutive year with Barry mean for you I it's a first for you yeah uh first year with um back-to-back coordinators and I didn't really understand how underrated that was uh until obviously now so um understand I mean nothing's really new to me uh so you know with the the verbiage the play calls you know um how he these uh things playing out in the Run game pass game protection so many so many different things um you know I mean as you would as you would think just comfort and uh it gives me a lot of confidence knowing kind of in a play call you know how he sees it going into it man I can get inside of his mind and uh really go execute it the way he sees it playing out against certain teams certain looks whatever whatever it may be whether it was coming here or like when ly left after their first year old mess is it really like learning a new language how would you try to you know analyze it for somebody yeah absolutely um you know each I mean there's coordinators across the across the country who do similar things and um you know come from the same tree and we use the same language but um you know with you know my experience I came from you know Lane kein kind of offense so you know going from year one to year two my freshman to sophomore year is a little bit similar uh because it's he's such an offensive mind but you know coming from Old Miss here it's it's totally you know nothing's the same you know football's football and people are going to be in similar places you know and and and all that but um the way things are caught it's like English and Spanish and Mandarin and like French and like that's just how it is but uh once you get it and you know had an understanding of football and next is a nose uh you know it's just learning those words and that's really it you played really well against Minnesota last year but after the injury seems like they went with a hot hand how was how did that impact you coming into this year yeah I mean I've spoken on it a lot man it was a difficult time obviously it was but because I wanted to be out there I wanted to grow my teammates wanted to to be that leader for him on the field and wanted to compete you know that's you know ultimately why I'm here to you know my dream was to play college football not not to you know be on the sideline so um you know being able to be on the field means a lot so it was difficult you know at the time I didn't really understand you know why God was put me in that position and um you know some days were hard some days were um you know difficult to to come up and show up but man I just remembered uh that you know God you know had a a perfect for me and you know I'm really seeing that come into fruition now and so excited to go display that growth that I've um experienced physically mentally emotionally spiritually and in all those ways and um really excited to put that on display got you guys want to cut down on the sacks you gave of offensive line you guys seem pretty bullish on it but what's your role in that and and what kind of did you learn from the experience last year do yeah sacks are you know always just you know a skewed stat you know the offensive line gets way too much um way too much hate for that stat and uh you know the outside regular fan or whoever may be doesn't really notice that so so many people it's you know saying offens Lunch you do this that and the other but man so much so much of that is you know owned me as well being able to navigate the pocket understand where pressure is coming from and uh feeling my way through things a lot of that comes with reps and um you know understanding you know week to week you know different Edge rushers or different you know whatever it may be but um you know like I said you know man going into year two with Coach Lenny's offense and just being here simply you know I just have a lot of comfort and um you know within that space because that was one area I struggled with and um you know I think one area of um physical growth and one thing I worked on was man my feet um my drops and stuff like that getting you know different depths in the pocket and things like that and it's really been helpful and I feel really confident going into that uh for sure you said you guys can be more explosive what about your weapons do you think like what what changed obviously have three really good re last year but um feels like you guys had more maybe yeah it's crazy um you know obviously you have the returner Pat Bryan who's um already had you know production here and has done some great things and one of our captains so um you know he's going to do what he does and there's no there's no secret to that and zakari as well obviously he's new to this program but he's not new to college football obviously with uh the production and The Yards he's racked up over uh you know his years of college football but um you know you know behind that there's there's guys that are going to have to you know be thrusted into you know some major roles and like I said before they're ready for that they've trained for it prepared for it and uh I think they're confident of it and it feels like throughout Camp uh you know each day it was somebody else's day like it was Malik's day or it was Alex's day Alex CA Jones or canaris or k Dixon there was um you know so many different guys who just made incredible incredible consistent plays and um you know I have no doubt whoever's out there whether it's an outsid receiver slot guy they're going to be in the right spot and you know uh do their job pretty good player pretty good player at left tackle right so is there a comfort level that you have knowing you got a guy like JC uh protecting The Blind Side yeah absolutely obviously that left tackle position for a right-handed quarterback is uh super important at all levels and um you know he's such a a good dude or like you know we can chop it up in the locker room wherever we are and um and uh you know I just have a trust in him that goes further um further than just the field and obviously he's done some really really great things where he was at and that's the reason why he's here and he's going to continue to do those because of how hard he's worked how he's really um been cohesive with that offens aligned and really um just meshed well with that culture so I have no no hesitance or doubt of how he'll translate his game or you know however you may see it but um he's excited I know he is to to be able to go play with us and um I'm excited to go play with him are there some key indicators you want to take away from game one where you can point to had the work paid off and I did these this I did this I did that and improved in those areas yeah I mean I we just talked about you know the sacks and um you know you come off last season wanting to to jump back into another game to to kind of fix your mistakes and you have nine where every eight or nine months of you know waiting around to to be able to you know get your next game action to to correct those mistakes or whatever it may be so yeah definitely going into the first game you're going to um you know want to see those things show up and I'm really conf confident that those things will because of like I said the work I've put in the intentionality of and the detail that um and the focus I've put into each and every little Nuance that I think I need to correct and um obviously there'll be some incredible excitement going out there for the first time again for a new season and maybe some Jitters or whatever for everybody but I know once we settle in and you know I think a big goal for us is start and fast too uh so um yeah it'll be fun after that first drive to be able to learn and after the second Drive learn learn and you know really see those things come into play two night games to open this season how does the work you guys have done dur camp that way help talk that yeah coach be is very calculated and detailed and um in in every area of of his life and and his uh in his job obviously um he's been doing this for incredibly long time and he's put us you know we we've had numerous night practices Under The Lights both of our scrimmages were at um you know at our uh at the 8:00 window for our first game and our second one was at the six o00 window for you know our second game just to be able to feel the the lighting under the lights all that stuff so you know it may um not seem like it means a lot but uh it does with pass catchers and you know the kicking game and all that so um it's it's not going to be new to us I mean the only thing really new is going to be you know the fans in the stadium and things like that but and facing a new opponent so um you know the environment and uh you know the outside uh you know whatever it is man we're ready for it what have you noticed about having the tablets on the sideline and may having video like on demand what you like about it I like about it yeah it's really cool uh in in high school we actually I was able to you know have the the iPad um you know throughout my my starting years there so um I remember after like every series man like the whole time I'm you know watching watching each play watching each look and seeing what we can do and you know as you would as you would think so um it's it's definitely an advantage for for us to be able to see um you know our formations how they match up with this defense and things like that and but on other side of it you know the defense is watching us too so it may neutralize out but uh it's definitely help to be able to make in-game adjustments adjustments for our coaches and I know they're excited about it so um it'll be a help for me too to be able to you know kind of um you know sometimes I'll come with the field last year and be like man I don't know what I saw there I didn't see it clearly well you know within a second's notice she'll be able to you know kind of clear that up and move on so I think that'll be cool I guess the last couple months most like confidence Ting about where you guys are and not just like the normal week one confidence like CU if you would agree with that maybe what's the in your eyes what's the root of maybe that feeling yeah um I agree with you man uh you know I think this is a really confident Bunch um obviously because I think it starts with the leadership you know through um obviously from from top to bottom with Coach B and you know our coordinators our position coaches and you know analysts G and but ultimate man it's I think it's about the players and I think we just have such a you know a close Brotherhood between uh this team man that's unlike anything I've been a part of even last year and even two years before where I was at man and um everybody's tight and everybody trusts one another and um you know like you said you know I think I think the team's confident uh you know in what we're doing because you know for some of them it's year three of being a starter and Co with coach Lenny and so they understand and what what what do what's going on and for me it's your two so they probably feel my confidence you know in what I'm doing and like I said with the help I received and just um you know going through so much last year so much adversity so much you know pain and suffering man honestly like um you know I had to find find a way to pick myself back up and you know I believe I've done that and I'm ready to go put it on display was there a moment