Weather: Sunny with temperatures in the mid 70s at kickoff.
The trends
For Utah: The Utes enter the 2024 season with a fresh slate after they went 8-5 in an injury-laden year in 2023 — including season-ending injuries to star quarterback Cam Rising and tight end Brant Kuithe.
For Southern Utah: The Thunderbirds went 6-5 last season, ending the year on a four-game win streak.
What to watch for
The obvious answer here is Cam Rising. All eyes will be on the Utah quarterback as he returns to the field for the first time in 605 days.
After tearing his ACL, meniscus, MPFL and MCL on Jan. 2, 2023 in the Rose Bowl, there’s a lot of “firsts” for Rising to check off in his return — first completion, first scramble, first time being hit.
He looked back to 100% in spring practices, now how will he look in his return to game action?
Another player to watch for in his return from knee rehab is tight end Brant Kuithe, who hasn’t played in a game for even longer than Rising.
Kuithe will be making his first appearance since Sept. 24, 2022. Again, he moved well in spring, but how will he look now when the lights are on?
Aside from those two players, the most intriguing part of Thursday’s game is going to be how much backup quarterback Isaac Wilson plays — and how much he gets to throw the ball.
The goal for the Utes should be to have the game out of reach at halftime so they can play some of their depth players — including Wilson — in the second half.
“Ideally a lot (of playing time), but we’ll see how things go,” Whittingham said about Wilson. “When the time is right, if the time is right, we’re going to obviously try to give him as many reps as we can on Thursday.”
Key player
Dorian Singer, Utah wide receiver: Singer has been the talk of campus since arriving in Salt Lake City this winter. The USC transfer is eager to make the most of his opportunity with the Utes, and Kyle Whittingham has been impressed, to say the least.
“He is an exceptional football player,” Whittingham said. “I mean, he does things out on the practice field that you just go, ‘Wow.’ You just look at each other as coaches and say, ‘Yeah, that’s why we brought him here.’ He’s got certainly one of the best sets of hands that we’ve had ever in our program.”
“He catches everything,” Whittingham continued. “He’s just as sure handed as they come. His body control on the contested ball up the field is second to none. His route running, he’s got exceptional ability to bend and sink his hips and get in and out of breaks.”
Thursday night is Singer’s first chance to show why Ute coaches are so excited about him, and why he should be one of the go-to options for Rising.
While Utah will keep the playbook vanilla, Singer will still get opportunities to make his mark on the game.
Quotable
“We feel like we’ve done a nice job in the offseason upgrading a lot of the positions and we feel like we got a chance to be competitive, but we’ll find out. All that matters is what happens on the game field and so we’ll find out this Thursday night.” — Utah coach Kyle Whittingham.
“Utah should win the Big 12. They should make the College Football Playoff. They should get a bye in the College Football Playoff and have a chance, have a real chance, at a national title. It’s the most talented front seven that I’ve ever prepared for.” — Southern Utah coach DeLane Fitzgerald via KSL Sports Zone.
Next up
Utah: vs. Baylor; SUU: at UTEP
Utah schedule
Aug. 29: Southern Utah (7 p.m, ESPN+)
Sept. 7: Baylor (1:30 p.m., Fox)
Sept. 14: at Utah State (2:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network)
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