Illinois Fighting Illini quarterback Luke Altmyer plays the game of football with a ton of chutzpah, as he can definitely take a hit. However, he might be playing the game a bit too gutsy. The most important thing for a quarterback to be is healthy and available, and in order to be that, he needs to stay upright.

While the Illini dominated FCS foe Western Illinois on Friday night, 52-3, there is one statistic that stands out, in a bad way, for the Illini and their fans: Altmyer was sacked three times. Obviously, some of the blame lies with the offensive line in front of him, but Altmyer knows that he can simply get better at pocket awareness.  

“Scoreboard looked really good, but I got to play a whole lot better within the pocket,” Altmyer told reporters after the season opener. “First game, there’s a little bit of jitters, but I’m confident that I’ll handle those pressures.”

You know the classic cliche- a football team makes its biggest improvement from week one to week two. Obviously, this is the time of year in which we’ll hear that placating bromide the most. But Altmyer is a guy who will just not get out-worked, by anybody. In the preseason, he talked about how he’ll do whatever it takes to improve his NFL Draft stock. 

“There’s so many things that scouts and teams look at within a player that can go and help their team, and that’s what I’m doing every single day, he said to RG. “The scouts and those NFL teams that pay the big bucks, they look into every little bit.” 

He’s got the right attitude, because this season, or at least the early portions of it, could create situations that lead to “coverage sacks.” Illinois lost their top two wide receivers (Pat Bryant and Zakhari Franklin) from last season, so this year the position is their biggest question mark. The establishment of a true WR1, who the quarterback instinctively has as his “go to guy” goes a long way. 

Hank Beatty seems to be stepping up and becoming that guy at Illinois, as he posted a 100 yards receiving by halftime. This followed up a 90-yard showing in last season’s Citrus Bowl, a performance that very few people saw coming, as Beatty had previously contributed more on special teams than he did on offense. Establishing a better/stronger rapport between QB and WR will help both players take their game up a notch. 

For Altmyer, some scouts question his size, and with that comes durability concerns. Getting better at consistently avoiding pressure and hits will no doubt help improve his stock. The Starkville, MS native is an avid fan of the NFL, and there are several quarterbacks in the league that he looks to for inspiration.  

“I got to get better today, in this moment, to maximize those four quarters,” the fifth year QB and three year starter at Illinois said. “That’s going to be the same thing tomorrow, and throughout the week, to be better for Duke coming up.”

Illinois goes from a warmup game against a lower tier team in week one to a road game at an ACC opponent that won nine games a year ago. The All-Big Ten candidate signal caller knows that the upcoming week will provide a much bigger challenge.  

“We’ve played one week, and some guys showed up and did some cool things,” Altmyer added. “Very, very encouraging and confident moving forward, never take anything for granted.”