FSU QB commit Luke Altmyer enjoying prestigious Elite 11 event
Several of the nation's top quarterbacks arrived in Tennessee this week for the prestigious Elite 11 event, and one of those prospects on hand is Florida State commit Luke Altmyer.
After the second day of the three-day event on Tuesday, Altmyer spoke with Warchant about the experience, how he's performed and what he hopes to take away from this week in the future.
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Although Altmyer was a late addition to this year's Elite 11 event, that has done nothing to diminish his excitement about the opportunity. The Mississippi product is loving the chance to compete with some of the best players in the country and to learn from the Elite 11 coaching staff.
"It's going well, really good. I'm having a good time," Altmyer said. "Definitely got some good competing in for the first day. We had a group session with four stations. There was a lot of good stuff -- a lot of under-center play-action drops, quick-game reaction stuff. They tested us a lot with timing, velocity on the passes, quick release stuff. It was good. I thought I did really well on Day One."
One of the challenges of the Elite 11 is the coaches will keep things going at a quick pace and they will challenge the quarterbacks mentally. Then there is the pressure that comes with being on such a big stage.
Altmyer said he had some good and bad moments dealing with those issues on the first day.
"I thought I was accurate, and I felt I spun it well," he said. "I also felt that early in the day, I wasn't turning the passes loose, and I was kind of trying to impress [the coaches]. And my mechanics got a little out of whack at times. But once I got settled in, I did very well on that day."
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One of the highlights so far for Altmyer has been taking reps with other signal-callers he has watched before online. He also has loved the coaching from guys who have played the position at the highest levels.
"Definitely Coach Dilfer," Altmyer said of former NFL QB and Super Bowl champion Trent Dilfer. "Because he's everywhere out there, helping and giving tips. Jordan Palmer, he's super cool, and also Jerrod Johnson -- he's very down to earth. All of them are very good and can relate to everyone really good."
The FSU commit said Day Two was a combination of work and fun.
"We did some yoga in the morning, which was a lot of fun," he said. "We also did a lot of classroom work and then finished it off with a Pro Day type thing."
While the competition in the second day didn't go quite as well as he had hoped, Altmyer said it was definitely a learning experience.
"It was a lot of learning," he said. "Pro Day was really cool. I think early on with my Pro Day, I let some nerves get to me in wanting to compete hard and was overthowing some. But in the back end of that day, once I relaxed and trusted my technique, I felt that went good. Occasionally with my footwork, I got a little wide, and that had my throws off. But like I said, once I settled down it was fine."
With everything that's going on in the world right now, the Elite 11 coaches and organizers took the opportunity to remind the players that they have a voice and a platform, and that they should stay abreast of the issues.
"We had a meeting today about gaining a lot of awareness of things going on in the world, and where our country is at, and how we can utilize our platform," Altmyer said. "You kind of have to put yourself in their shoes and empathize with what everyone is going through. I mean, we did Xs and Os, but there were a lot of the off-the-field things too."
With things wrapping up today, Altmyer gave the overall event very high reviews.
"I've built a lot of good relationships this week, meeting a lot of great guys who can certainly sling it," he said. "My takeaway would be it's really a chance to showcase your skills and competing. What I've been so impressed by is the off-the-field development.
"We dove into depth about an organization called NEGU. It's an organization for kids that are dealing with cancer. We learned a lot, and we actually have this activity where we stuffed this jar with goodies to send to those kids. So it's been really cool."
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