A three-year Illinois starter who transferred away from Ole Miss and Jaxson Dart, then closed his college career as Music City Bowl MVP before landing with Detroit as a backup quarterback.
Luke Altmyer went from a buried backup role behind Jaxson Dart at Ole Miss to a three-year starting quarterback at Illinois, throwing for nearly 8,000 career yards along the way. He went undrafted in the 2026 NFL Draft and signed with Detroit, where he sits behind Jared Goff and Teddy Bridgewater on the depth chart but has already impressed coaches with his poise.
Path to the league
Altmyer starred at Starkville High School in Mississippi, throwing for over 5,500 yards and 63 touchdowns, and chose Ole Miss over Alabama, Florida State and LSU. After losing the starting job to Jaxson Dart and appearing in just a handful of games across two seasons, he transferred to Illinois in 2023 and became the Illini's starter.
Career highlights
Altmyer threw for 21 touchdowns in 2024 and earned Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors after a four-touchdown outing against a ranked Nebraska team, helping lead Illinois to a 9-3 regular season. Across 44 college games between Ole Miss and Illinois, he completed 63.7 percent of his passes for 7,924 yards, 60 touchdowns and 24 interceptions, adding 13 rushing scores.
2025 season recap
Altmyer finished his Illinois career in 2025 by throwing for over 3,000 yards, 22 touchdowns and just five interceptions on a 67.4 percent completion rate, and he was named MVP of the Music City Bowl. Despite the strong finish and 23 career wins as a starter, he went unselected through all three days of the 2026 NFL Draft before signing with Detroit as an undrafted free agent.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Luke Altmyer
- Detroit News: Luke Altmyer embraces draft snub
Player Profile
Background
- Position
- Quarterback
- Group
- offense
- College
- Illinois
- Hometown
- Starkville, MS, USA
- Age
- 23
- Status
- active
Team
