Cam Rising out for season with leg injury, Isaac Wilson to start

After suffering a leg injury in Utah’s 27-19 loss at Arizona State last week, starting quarterback Cam Rising is out for the season, Utah coach Kyle Whittingham announced Monday night.

Going forward, true freshman Isaac Wilson , who has started three games this season for the Utes in Rising’s absence, will be Utah’s starting quarterback, beginning Saturday against TCU.

“Upon further evaluation by our medical staff, Cameron Rising’s injury has unfortunately been deemed season-ending,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said in a statement. “During his time at Utah, Cam has been both a great player and leader for our program, and he will obviously be missed. Any future developments concerning his collegiate eligibility will be addressed at a later date.”

On Utah’s first drive Friday night, Arizona State defensive lineman Jeff Clark hit Rising as he threw, with the brunt of his 285-pound frame coming down on Rising’s right leg.

Immediately, Rising grabbed his right leg, and then came up limping. Just three plays into his return from a reported dislocated finger and laceration, Utah’s veteran quarterback had suffered a new injury.

Rising remained in the game but clearly wasn’t a 100%. He had trouble planting his leg on passes for the rest of the game, and his hand may have figured into the struggles as well, as many passes were off the mark. The senior finished with a final stat line of 209 yards and three interceptions with a career-worst 43% completion rate.

Rising’s mobility was severely limited, and with so many passes missing their targets, one had to wonder if Utah should have inserted Wilson into the game, considering Rising’s state. Whittingham stuck with Rising, however, in a must-win game for the Utes.

Sure, there was no guarantee that Wilson, who has had his share of turnover issues, would have won the game for Utah, but he may have given the Utes a better shot than a clearly-hurt Rising.

On Monday, Whittingham was asked if, in retrospect, he kept Rising in the game too long, and his answer was similar to the one he gave postgame Friday.

“Cam is a warrior, wanted to play. We really moved the ball at the end of the first half and thought, OK, even though we didn’t get in the end zone and then moved the ball well the first drive in the second half,” Whittingham said.

“... We had that thought, would that be a move that we would make? But he wanted to finish and he’s a seasoned vet. He would’ve let us know if he felt like he was not being effective enough so we did not make the move and that’s that. That was the decision that really our offensive coaches came to and our coordinator and quarterback coach.”

Utah did end up gaining more yards through the air than Arizona State did (209-167), but Rising clearly wasn’t his usual self; while the Utes did move the ball inside the ASU 30-yard line seven times, only one of those drives ended with a touchdown.

Friday’s loss to ASU could very well be the last time we see Rising play for the University of Utah, and after a memorable career, it’s a tough ending.

During his time at Utah, Rising helped elevated the program to new heights and led the Utes to back-to-back Pac-12 championships in 2021 and 2022. He’ll go down in Utah history as one of the school’s most accomplished quarterbacks and someone who helped lead the Utes to some of the most memorable wins in program history, like back-to-back wins over Oregon in 2021 and two wins against USC in 2022.

“Anytime you can be one of the greatest ever at a school like Utah is going to be something that you’d only dream of as a kid,” Rising said in a preseason interview.

In the last two years, he’s been dealt a bad hand in regards to injuries, missing the entire 2023 season due to knee injury rehab and 4.5 of Utah’s six games in the 2024 season with a reported dislocated finger and laceration, then suffering the leg injury in his first game back after the finger injury.

There is a possibility, if Rising does indeed miss the rest of the season, for him to take another medical redshirt and play an eighth year of college football.

Have Whittingham and Rising already had conversations about that?

“No, but there will be now that we’re in the situation that we’re in, that’s a possibility, I think. Whittingham said. “I don’t know, again, we have to explore it in detail with the compliance and I’m not even sure Cam would be interested in going that route. He’s got a lot to think about and so just take a step back right now ... get this most recent injury thoroughly diagnosed and on the road to rehab and then that would be something we’d talk about sooner rather later,”

With all the injuries he’s suffered in recent years, it would seem surprising if Rising decides to pursue an eighth year, and shocking if he ends up back at Utah for it.

As Utah enters the second half of its schedule, moving forward with Wilson at quarterback, it’s clear what the offense needs to correct in order to turn the ship around — a better passing game and fixing the red-zone issues.

“Our big nemesis right now is the throw game. I mean we’re just not efficient enough in the throw game. We’re last in the conference in completion percentage, we’re worst in the conference throwing picks and so we got to figure that out. Our third-down percentage is suffering, red zone is suffering and it’s really a product of not being able to be efficient enough in the throw game,” Whittingham said.

Will Wilson be able to rectify Utah’s offensive issues? We’ll see, but it’s clear going forward that this is his team. He’s not splitting reps with Rising in practice, and doesn’t have to look over his shoulder and think about when Rising is coming back.

Wilson will get the vast majority of the first-team reps in practice — about 75% — while Brandon Rose, Wilson’s backup, will get the remaining 25%.

“Unless things go really sideways, Isaac is our guy and we feel very confident in him,” Whittingham said.