Where Joel Klatt Ranks Illinois Quarterback Luke Altmyer Among Nation's Best

Altmyer played in a total of nine games in his first two seasons at Ole Miss (the second of which he wound up redshirting), then took firm hold of the reins at Illinois in his first season in Champaign, starting nine games as a redshirt sophomore. He made a quantum leap as a junior last season, producing one of the more efficient seasons ever by an Illini passer while leading the team to a program-record-tying 10 wins.

"He's not the flashiest guy on the list, and it's not an offense that's going to put up a huge amount of numbers throwing the football, but it's a team that won over 10 games last year," Klatt said. "I think that they've got a schedule that could put them in the college football playoff. You look at his touchdown interception ratio from a year ago, it's 22 to [five]. I really like that. He's entering Year 3. He can run when he needs to. He's not not hyper-elusive, I wouldn't say, but he can run when he needs to."

Illinois' offense isn't designed to put up Nintendo numbers, but Altmyer is about as good as anyone in college football when it comes to putting together and completing drives, avoiding back-breaking mistakes and coming through in the clutch. He was the nation's only quarterback to pass for three game-winning touchdowns in the final two minutes or overtime.

"This is going to be his third season playing – that's a lot of football," Klatt said. "We've seen in this age of NIL and, more specifically, the transfer portal ... what we've seen in college football is the guys that that play best at this position – the quarterback position – are guys with a lot of experience."

Altmyer has played in a total of 31 college football games at the Power 4 level, making him one of the most experienced active quarterbacks in not just the Big Ten but also across Division I. With the departure of receiver Pat Bryant, Altmyer will be counted on for his decision-making, accuracy and game-management skills more than ever in 2025.

College football expert Joel Klatt's top 10 quarterbacks for the 2025 season:

10. Carson Beck, Miami9. Luke Altmyer, Illinois8. LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina7. D.J. Lagway, Florida6. Garrett Mussmeier, LSU5. Drew Allar, Penn State4. Sam Leavitt, Arizona State3. John Mateer, Oklahoma2. Arch Manning, Texas1. Cade Klubnik, Clemson

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