I'll share this here because it's something that just happened. But it has nothing to do with Luke Altmyer. A lot of these "intros" don't.

I checked something on Twitter and the mentions tab showed a new follower. I went to check the follower count and it's at 17,497. I laughed out loud.

See, way back in the spring I set this goal for myself with Twitter followers. It's not some big thing. I just sometimes set these goals where I say to myself that a good follower count by the first game would be XX,XXX. If I don't get there it's whatever but if I'm creating meaningful items online then I should get to a certain number by a certain date.

The "goal" I set this time: be at 17,500 followers by the first game. The first game is tomorrow and I'm at... 17,497.

Three more followers tomorrow and I hit the target there. Bet I add two and I miss my goal by one.

4. Luke Altmyer

Quarterback
Uniform number: 9
Year in school: Sophomore (3 years to play 3)
Height: 6'-2" -- Weight: 200 lbs.
Hometown: Starkville, Mississippi
High School: Starkville High School (transfer from Ole Miss)
Five best offers: Alabama, Oregon, LSU, Florida State, Ole Miss.
Tom Cruise rating:

Background

Quarterback recruiting is such an interesting thing to me. It's all about that secondary market. As a college head coach you're almost assured that every single year there will be a large number of blue chip quarterbacks who didn't win the job at their school and are looking for a starting opportunity. In high school recruiting it was very difficult to get a 4-star quarterback to even hear your recruiting pitch. With transfers, now there are several 4-star available to you every year.

That's what Bret Bielema did in 2022 with Tommy DeVito (Syracuse) and that's what Bret Bielema has done in 2023 with Luke Altmyer (Ole Miss). A 4-star from somewhere else and you bring him over to be your starter. Altmyer got one start at Ole Miss last year, they eventually went with Jaxson Dart, Altmyer only played in four games (to preserve his redshirt), and now he'll be the Illini starting quarterback with three years of eligibility.

2023 Outlook

It's so funny that we have absolutely no clue about him. Like, in the third quarter tomorrow night we might find ourselves screaming for John Paddock to be put in the game. Or, by the third quarter tomorrow night, our minds might be reeling and we're saying things like "and you're telling me we get this for THREE FULL SEASONS?"

All we know is that he was a 4-star with Alabama, Oregon, and LSU offers. The recruiting pedigree is there. But because he only started that one game last year at Ole Miss - and especially because the media wasn't allowed to see any scrimmage action at fall camp - we know absolutely nothing. It's all 100% hope.

And we find out tomorrow night. (!!!)