Whittingham hopes to have Cam Rising back after bye week

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 Sports) – Coming off a disappointing 23-10 loss to Arizona last week, Utah’s offensive problems were exposed, especially in the passing game.

Cam Rising has missed the last three and half games with injured fingers on his throwing hand against Baylor, and Utes fans have been getting critical of his absence on social media. Head coach Kyle Whittingham, who said Rising was “really close” to playing against Arizona, said he hopes Rising will return against Arizona State.

“Cam Rising wants to play worse than anybody,” Whittingham said Tuesday. “When he’s able to, he will. It’s not like he’s been able to play and not going. That’s not the case. I’m not sure what you mean when they say he’s ‘taking heat.’ I don’t I never on social media, so I don’t know anything that’s going on there. I don’t know where that’s coming from. But I can tell you for certain that he wants to play and as soon as he gets the go ahead, he will play. And we hope it’s this next game.

The Utes just aren’t the same team without Rising, so Whittingham recognizes the urgency to get him back as soon as possible.

“He’s one of the best quarterbacks in the country,” he said. “It’s a quarterback driven game. It’s the most important position on the field and it’s not even close. So if you’ve got an elite quarterback like Cam Rising, yeah, that definitely helps to get him back on the field. It’ll give us a big boost.”

The offense struggled with Isaac Wilson at quarterback against the Wildcats, especially in the red zone, and generating just one touchdown. But for a true freshman, Whittingham is encouraged by Wilson’s progress.

“He’s doing some really good things,” Whittingham said. “He’s also making some freshman mistakes. So, it’s a learning curve. He’s done some things that have exceeded our expectations, and some other things that again, are very freshmen-like. But he’s shown a lot of toughness, a lot of courage, and he’s got a great deal of confidence.”

One of the biggest issues Whittingham wants to address during the bye week is the physicality on both the offensive and defensive lines. Arizona gained 164 yards on the ground, while the Utes had just 84 yards rushing.

“Physicality at the line of scrimmage,” Whittingham said. “We got out-rushed two to one, essentially. That can’t happen. I mean, that’s exactly how we beat up on people. So, it was disappointing to see that happen. We also have got a tackle better. We watched some live tackling today in practice because we didn’t tackle well enough.”

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.