Starkville Daily News

Altmyer continues SHS tradition of Dandy Dozens

- By ROBBIE FAULK

It’s a Starkville tradition like no other – another Clarion Ledger Dandy Dozen selection.

This time it’s senior quarterbac­k Luke Altmyer representi­ng the Yellow Jackets on the prestigiou­s list. The Dandy Dozen is made up of 12 of the state’s best senior football players and Altmyer certainly fits the bill.

Heading into his third year as a starter at quarterbac­k for SHS, Altmyer is emerging as one of the best quarterbac­ks in the country. In his first three years on campus, he’s thrown for 5,523 career yards with 63 touchdowns and just 10 intercepti­ons.

Last year was Altmyer’s best season and one of the best in the history of the school. He completed 67% of his passes for 3,093 yards, 37 touchdowns and just five intercepti­ons. He’s on pace to break every career record that the Jackets have.

Altmyer believes he has gotten better during the offseason. If so, Jacket opponents had better watch out this upcoming season.

“I’ve worked extremely hard with my footwork, throwing motion and X’s and O’s,” Altmyer said. “I told (Starkville coach Chris Jones) that wasn’t my best day at all, but I’ve gotten more polished. I’ve been working really hard with David Morris in Mobile with

QB Country in just improving my mechanics and I think that really helped.”

Committed to Florida State already, Altmyer is a 247Sports Composite four star player. He’s ranked 207th nationally regardless of his position, the 12th best pro style quarterbac­k and the No. 3 player in the state of Mississipp­i. Despite limited camps this year due to the novel coronaviru­s (COVID-19), Altmyer has already earned a selection to the Under Armour Allamerica­n Game booked for January in Orlando, Fla. He also just recently competed in the Elite 11 quarterbac­k competitio­n in Nashville that showcased the top 20 quarterbac­ks in the country.

Altmyer has also picked up nearly 20 Football Bowl Subdivisio­n offers and is being heavily recruited by Alabama. Just this month, the talented quarterbac­k spent time talking to the Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban on a Zoom call.

The selection to the Dandy Dozen marks the 11th by SHS players all-time, which is fourth all-time among schools in the state. Recently, the Jackets have had a string of selections that not many can match. Since 2015, five players have been selected as A.J. Brown, Kobe Jones, Willie Gay Jr. and Rodrigues Clark have been chosen marking a Yellow Jacket on the list in four of the last six years.

 ??  ?? Starkville High School quarterbac­k Luke Altmyer (9) prepares to throw a pass against West Point last season. (Photo by Jason Cleveland, SDN file)
Starkville High School quarterbac­k Luke Altmyer (9) prepares to throw a pass against West Point last season. (Photo by Jason Cleveland, SDN file)

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