Luke Altmyer is calm, cool and collected as Ole Miss quarterback battle heats up
Since January Luke Altmyer has heard all the noise and the static surrounding the Ole Miss quarterback situation. He is just choosing to ignore it.
Coming in as a highly-touted prospect from Starkville — one that head coach Lane Kiffin was able to flip from Florida State — Altmyer knew his moment to grab a hold of a life-changing opportunity would come.
The moment arrived and Altmyer is doing all he physically can to make sure it does not evaporate in front of his eyes.
All of this is due to the winter arrival of former Southern California quarterback transfer Jaxson Dart.
When Dart chose to make Oxford and the Southeastern Conference his new home the buzz and chatter moved from Altmyer, the one who stepped in and led Ole Miss in the final three quarters of January’s Sugar Bowl, and to the new kid on the block from the west coast.
“I mentioned earlier (the summer) kind of went by slow, but I kind of look back and honestly it was a blur,” Altmyer said during Ole Miss’ local media on Wednesday. “All the narratives that were created in the media and things like that. It’s super unique and I just try to take things day by day. Let all things kind of happen naturally. Try to be a servant in the locker room in how I carry myself and kind of have that mindset of just being efficient with my time. The chips will fall where they fall.”
Related: Jaxson Dart embraced an uncomfortable spring at Ole Miss and went to work in the summer
Altmyer comes across as having a care free and almost laissez faire approach to what is the most scrutinized quarterback battles in recent memory.
The reason could be how Altmyer fared during spring practices and came across as the more polished between he and Dart following the Grove Bowl in April.
Another reason could be Altmyer sat under the learning tree at this summer’s Manning Passing Acadmey where he served as a counselor. This year was not the first time Altmyer attended the camp as he attended it as a participant in middle school.
“I went as just a kid who was a baseball player, I didn’t know a thing about football,” Altmyer said. “I kind of went with my friends and kind had the experience to meet all those quarterbacks and the Mannings, obviously. Going back as a counselor to be able to help with a bunch of kids and throw with a bunch of great quarterbacks was really cool.
“You listen to Eli, Peyton and Archie (and) how could you not take something from that. Their mentorship and kind of things they spoke on. Even things that are not football related you take so much from those guys. It’s really cool and a blessing to have that opportunity.”
Ole Miss has battles sprinkled throughout the roster of returning players fighting for their spot with newcomers from the transfer portal.
The quarterback position is not exclusive to this unique situation that NIL and the portal has created. It is not even exclusive to Ole Miss. Tight end Casey Kelly now has Michael Trigg, another USC tranfer. Altmyer has Dart.
Both Kelly and Altmyer are human and would be hard to not expect either of them to take it personal when new faces in their respective position rooms arrive with such fanfare and expectations.
Altmyer continues to keep his emotions in check, both externally and internally, when this topic is brought up.
“(Dart and I) spend a lot of time with each other, obviously,” Altmyer said. “We run the same offense. We deal with the same things every single day. How could we not be close?
“We have a lot of similarities, things like that, off the field. We bounce ideas off each other. We’re very fond of each other. There’s no animosity. We’re in this together. We know the narrative the media creates. We try to block that out, but obviously there is that kind of business aspect to it. We’re both working really hard to go win the job.”
