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Luke Altmyer leaves Champaign with big shoes to fill.

He wasn’t a superstar quarterback by any means, but he steadied the ship, kept the offense on schedule and helped lead Illinois to 19 wins over the last two seasons. He was as solid as a rock in the backfield, regularly pinging passes to up-and-coming wideouts and making just enough plays on the ground to remind you that he was a threat with his legs. He was also a fantastic leader and a guy that Fighting Illini fans seemed to love.

Altmyer capped an illustrious Illinois career with a 30-28 Music City Bowl victory over Tennessee. Almost as soon as he took that orange helmet off for the final time, my mind started to wander.

What will Illinois do next at the quarterback position?

How does a guy, presumably from the portal, back up that type of two-year run?

What kind of quarterback should Bielema and OC Barry Lunney Jr. target?

After the 2026 transfer portal dust settled, Illinois had secured the services of former East Carolina signal-caller Katin Houser. Houser, who stands at 6-foot-three-inches tall and weighs 225 pounds, enters the fray fresh off an outstanding 2025 season for the Pirates, one in which he threw for 3,300 yards and 19 touchdowns.

Similar to Wisconsin’s new quarterback, Colton Joseph, Houser is far from a household name. But I’m not sure that matters at a place like Illinois. Houser only has one year of eligibility remaining, which means he’ll be tasked with hitting the ground running in hopes of keeping the Fighting Illini in contention in a loaded Big 10 Conference.

So what is Illinois getting in a quarterback like Houser? Using Hudl IQ, I’ll break down Houser’s 2025 season — identifying the traits that translate, the weaknesses that could hold him back and ultimately, how he might fit into what Illinois hopes to do on offense.

Before I dive into Houser’s strengths, weaknesses and potential fit with Illinois, I’d like to add some context around just how big the shoes are to fill in Champaign. And there’s no better way to do that than by breaking down Altmyer’s 2025 output.

Source: Hudl IQ

Using Hudl IQ Player Radar Data, we can see that when you strip away the preconceived notions about Altmyer, that he was, without a doubt, an incredibly efficient quarterback at minimum and was probably someone that a lot of people outside the state of Illinois took for granted.

Source: Hudl IQ

When looking at his per game advanced stats, you can see that Altmeyer had good-to-great games against below average/good teams. He shredded against defenses like Western Illinois, Western Michigan, Purdue, Rutgers and Maryland, and was really effective against better teams (if even not that much better defenses) like Duke and USC. His two down games were predictably against a pair of the best defenses in college football versus Ohio State and Indiana.

Source: Hudl IQ

Looking at the Traits Radar (left side), we can see that the Fighting Illini offense often didn’t put too much on this plate from a Usage %, but that when they did, he did a nice job of making plays. His low Pocket Left % is also an indicator that he didn’t often leave the pocket on non-designed run plays. Instead, the Fighting Illini would trust him as a runner on designed run plays.

Looking at the Performance Radar (right side), we can see that he had strong Yards/Rush, Completion % and Success % numbers.

When you dive into his season as a whole, you can see that he excelled with his EPA/Play, EPA/Pass, Success % and Chunk % numbers. This paints the picture of a quarterback who, once again, didn’t often put his teams in bad positions, instead keeping the offense on schedule, in rhythm and, by and large, was effective with both his arm and his legs.

Funny enough, when you use the Hudl IQ Player Comparison tool, Altmyer was an 85.8% Similarity % for…you guessed it…Heisman Trophy-winner and national champion Fernando Mendoza. That’s not to say that Altmyer was Mendoza (no one was), but just to say that they both are players that thrive with good timing, strong protection and are good distributors of the football.

Now that you have a clearer picture of just how effective Altmyer was in 2025, let’s take a look at Houser over at ECU.

Source: Hudl IQ

Houser is no Luke Altmyer. Let’s start there.

At first glance, Houser doesn’t offer nearly what Altmyer did in the rushing department. While Houser did tally a surprising nine rushing touchdowns last season, he did so on 85 carries for 193 yards. His longest carry of the season was just 14 yards. He did, however, have a big uptick in carries in 2025 compared to 2024 (49) and 2023 (48), so perhaps he’s placing more of an emphasis on his rushing abilities as his career progresses.

Looking at the Traits Radar (left side), the thing that immediately jumps out was how little pressure Houser faced on passing downs. Altmyer faced pressure on 14.4% of his passes, compared to Houser’s 6.2%. Does this mean Illinois’ offensive line struggled at times? Does it mean that ECU’s line was good? Perhaps a little of both. If Altmyer’s numbers are any indication of what Houser might be getting himself into, Houser will need to be prepared to face more pressure in a more defensive line-dominant league like the Big 10.

Looking at the Performance Radar (right side), we can see that last year at ECU, Houser was a good influence on the offense, as evidenced by his positive EPA/Play, EPA/Pass, and Success %. The advanced metrics that stood out the most to me on the Performance Radar was Houser’s Yards/Rush (not very good) and his Success %, which was almost identical to that of Altmyer.

Source: Hudl IQ

Using the Hudl IQ Player Comparison tool, we can see that Houser is most comparable to two players who most college football fans likely haven’t watched a ton of (Derek Robertson, formerly of Monmouth) and (Dante Reno, Yale) and three guys we’ve all watched plenty of in Carson Beck, Josh Hoover and Trinidad Chambliss.

If I had to make a player comp using this information, I’d best categorize Houser as a mix between Carson Beck and a poor man’s Josh Hoover. He’s probably not going to light the world on fire with his legs, but when he plays within structure and rhythm, he’s a good distributor of the football. He regularly completes a strong amount of passes from the pocket, does a nice job of creating explosive plays and although not totally immobile, really isn’t a traditional running threat either.

From where I sit, Houser is a good roll of the dice by Illinois, especially considering how successful OC Barry Lunney Jr. was with someone like Altmyer.

If Houser works in Champaign, he’s surrounded with enough talent up front and on the outside to play within the offense, distribute the football with relatively quick reads and do just enough with his legs to keep defenses honest.

If he doesn’t work in 2026, it’s likely because the talent around him has taken a step back, he struggles to cope with the defensive line pressures of the Big 10 and he just isn’t quite electric enough to take over games down the stretch.

But the thing about Altmyer, and playing quarterback at Illinois in general, is that under Bielema and Lunney Jr., the Fighting Illini haven’t needed a guy that is a total game-changer or a bolt of electricity. Instead, Bielema and company have done a nice job of building an offense that utilizes worthwhile offensive linemen and rising star skill players to platform quarterbacks and help them become the best version of themselves.

If Illinois surrounds Houser with the type of talent they equipped Altmyer with, I think Houser will be a good Big 10 quarterback and will be yet another strong G5 to P5 success story.