Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer will be one of 14 college quarterbacks returning for back-to-back years at the Manning Passing Acacdemy but this summer he’ll be representing a different school.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

June 22, 2023

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- For the second straight year, Luke Altmyer will be attending one of the country’s most prestigious quarterback developing camps but this summer he’ll be representing a different university.

Altmyer has been selected as one of the 45 college quarterbacks to be a counselor at the 27th annual Manning Passing Academy to be held today through Sunday at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana.

Altmyer, who announced his transfer from Ole Miss to Illinois on Dec. 30 and officially enrolled less than two weeks later, is one of 14 returning quarterbacks from last year's camp. Altmyer attended the camp as a counselor last summer as Archie Manning, the camp's executive director and co-founder, has always attempted to select at least one quarterback from his alma mater in Oxford, Mississippi where the Rebels program has retied his number 18 and the number (10) his son Eli wore as a All-SEC first-team performer at Ole Miss.

Altmyer is one of three transfer portal quarterbacks who the Illini coaching staff had discussions with among bringing into the fold for the upcoming 2023 season. On the same late December weekend, Illinois brought in Altmyer and then-Texas quarterback Hudson Card for an official visit. Card, who has three seasons of eligibility remaining, ultimately opted to sign with Purdue. Illinois also had conversations with then-former N.C. State quarterback Devin Leary, who is the older brother of Illini quarterback Donovan Leary, but the graduate transfer elected to play his final season of college football at Kentucky.

Altmyer will be joined one more time on the same field with Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart. It was Dart who campaigned for Altmyer to stay with the Rebels through the month of December practices and to be active for the Texas Bowl against Texas Tech despite Altmyer having already announced his intention of entering the transfer portal.

“I remember when he got into the portal, he wasn’t really sure if he was gonna play in the bowl game, and obviously he’s busy with a lot of other things. A lot of schools want to contact him and stuff,” Dart said in a local media session on Dec. 13. “But, we kind of have to have a backup quarterback, and I talked to coaches about how I wanted him to play. So, I had a talk with him and was just like ‘bro, I want you to come back, you know, finish this thing out with us. We’d all love to have you around’ and I knew I’d love to have him around.”

The four-day camp is highlighted by some of the nation’s most prominent quarterbacks serving as counselors for the junior high and high school quarterbacks who attend the practices, film sessions and lectures.

“I was just texting with Archie and Peyton this morning,” Bielema said Thursday afternoon in a local media session inside the Smith Family Football Center in Champaign. “The thing I think it breeds is being around a bunch of other good players that aren’t in your scheme so there’s not this whole guarded ‘don’t give away tactical information’ thing. Quarterbacks and head coaches are a lot alike, right? I wanted Luke to just go there and enjoy being there, enjoy being around not just the good quarterbacks but the quarterback coaches who are there helping the campers. Every other quarterback who has gone to it has been very, very pleased when they came back.”

Altmyer will be in select company of quarterbacks in this camp as the counselor roster includes projected first round NFL draft picks Drake Maye from North Carolina, Michael Penix from Washington and Texas freshman Arch Manning, who is the grandson of Archie Manning and son of MPA executive Cooper Manning.

Atmyer will be the first Illinois quarterback selected to be a counselor at this prestigious camp by the Manning family since Brandon Peters was picked before the 2021 season.

The Big Ten Conference will be represented in this camp with three quarterback counselors including Altmyer, Card and Penn State’s Drew Allar.

One of the highlight of the camp is the ‘Friday Night Lights’ portion where the counselors all compete in a skills competition starting at 8:30 p.m. Friday at John L Guidry Stadium on the campus of Nicholls State. The college quarterbacks compete in a series of drills to gauge their accuracy, arm strength and route throwing versatility.

Along with doing conditioning work on campus with Illinois strength coach Tenarius “Tank” Wright, Altmyer’s summer plans also included working with his personal private quarterback coach David Morris in Mobile, Alabama. Morris, a former four-year letterman and Ole Miss graduate, is first true freshman walk-on quarterback to start in the Southeastern Conference. Morris is the founder of a private training company that advertises to having 12 locations throughout the southeast portion of the country.

Full List of College Quarterbacks Attending 2023 Manning Passing Academy (in alphabetically order)

Drew Allar, Penn State

Luke Altmyer, Illinois

Carter Bradley, South Alabama

Michael Brescia, Colgate

Doug Brumfield, UNLV

Hudson Card, Purdue

Brady Cook, Missouri

Myles Crawley, Grambling

Jayden Daniels, LSU

Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss

Jayden de Laura, Arizona

Quinn Ewers, Texas

DeQuan Finn, Toledo

Mason Garcia, East Carolina

Frank Harris, Texas-San Antonio

Layne Hatcher, Ball State

Michael Hiers, Samford

Seth Henigan, Memphis

Nick Howard, Dartmouth

Devin Leary, Kentucky

Riley Leonard, Duke

Arch Manning, Texas

Drake Maye, North Carolina

Grayson McCall, Coastal Carolina

Parker McKinley, Eastern Kentucky

Pat McQuaide, Nicholls State

Joe Milton, Tennessee

Emmett Morehead, Boston College

Chandler Morris, Texas Christian

Garrett Nussmeier, LSU

Michael Penix, Washington

John Rhys Plumlee, Central Florida

Michael Pratt, Tulane

Drew Pyne, Arizona State

Austin Reed, Western Kentucky

Cameron Rising, Utah

Will Rogers, Mississippi State

Shedeur Sanders, Colorado

Eli Sawyer, Southeastern Louisiana

Liam Thompson, Wabash

Ty Thompson, Oregon

Jordan Travis, Florida State

Tyler Van Dyke, Miami

Cameron Ward, Washington State

Ben Wooldridge, UL