Illinois Football: Top 5 Illini players poised to have a breakout season

3. Luke Altmyer

I think it is obvious that I had to put Luke Altmyer on this list. He is a superstar quarterback who is finally going to get his chance to shine on the field.

While the starter at quarterback hasn’t officially been named yet, I think it is pretty safe to say Altmyer is going to get the job. He was a four-star recruit who was the No. 104 player in the class of 2021. There is plenty of talent there, but he couldn’t get things going at Ole Miss.

Altmyer has only thrown 54 passes in his collegiate career, so there isn’t a sample size big enough to know exactly what Illinois is going to be getting with this former top recruit. But that also means that there is plenty of room for Altmyer to have a breakout season.

Illinois’ coaching staff does a great job of putting players in positions to succeed. In the two seasons prior to Tommy DeVito getting to Champaign, he was struggling on the field. He came to Illinois, and he was molded into an extremely accurate passer and had the best year of his career.

I think that could happen with Altmyer too. He has talent around him at wide receiver. I mentioned early in this article that Isaiah Williams is poised to have a breakout year. He will help Altmyer greatly as a safety blanket until he gets the offense down.

Honestly, I expect Altmyer to have a similar season to that of DeVito in 2022. I am thinking of something in the ballpark of 2,500 yards, 20 touchdowns, and five interceptions. That would be a breakout season for Altmyer.