'He's banged up': Utes face tough decision after another injury to Cam Rising

TEMPE, Ariz. – Cam Rising can't catch a break.

After missing the last four weeks due to a freak injury to his throwing hand after hitting a drinking table on the sidelines at Rice-Eccles Stadium, the seventh-year quarterback found himself in a similar situation Friday.

Rising launched in Tempe after a weekly back-and-forth scenario last month.

But a minute into the game, Rising was run over by an Arizona State defender who landed on Rising's right leg during a tackle, forcing the QB to fall back and bend his leg in an unusual way. After breaking free from the tackle and rolling away, Rising grabbed his leg but hobbled back to the line of scrimmage.

Rising played with the injury throughout the game – his first full game since 2022 – but it was clear he wasn't himself. He couldn't place his right foot well, couldn't get the timing right with his receivers – high and mostly deep passes – and lacked his usual confidence and precision in the middle.

“Yeah, he curled up – that lower leg injury that limited his mobility for the rest of the game,” Whittingham said. “And of course he's wearing the glove so we can increase the grip – improve the grip on the football – so, yeah, it's broken.”

“It was very obvious that he was not 100% fit.

Rising finished the day throwing for 209 yards and three interceptions on 16 of 37 passes.

However, it was clear early on that Rising wasn't 100%, but Utah opted to stick with the veteran quarterback despite the frustrations on offense. Rising wanted to stay on the field, Whittingham said, and so there was no conversation — at least not a public one — about moving on to freshman Isaac Wilson.

“No, he wanted to play and he was adamant he wanted to stay in the game. He won a number of ball games for us. … But it's a coaching decision to decide who gives you the best chance to win the game, and that's who you put in there,” Whittingham said. “And like I said, Cam has been great for us in the past.”

In the past.

Through no fault of their own, Rising has not been healthy the last two seasons and Utah has been forced to pivot. And while Rising's legacy is built on his back-to-back Pac-12 championship runs for the Utes, there's a chance his time as the team's starter has reached the end of the road.

Surprised, Cam Rising didn’t break his ankle pic.twitter.com/vV9DYdcM8Q

– #16 THE REAL U (@therealutahutes) October 12, 2024

Whittingham said the extent of Rising's injury is not fully known, but the next two days will be telling about his future with the offense.

“We will have a lot more information and a lot more idea of ​​how Cam is feeling tomorrow and the day after,” Whittingham said. “Usually you can play through these things in the heat of the moment with adrenaline pumping, but it's not until the next day or the next that they really start to show how important they are or aren't.”

Depending on the severity of his injury — not to mention that Utah's chances of making the Big 12 are shrinking by the day — there's a chance Utah could turn the offense over to Wilson. Regardless of Rising's health, Utah has to look to the future – even if the rookie isn't fully fit yet.

“That decision will be made as we move forward,” Whittingham said of the future of the QB position.

The decision comes down to whether Rising — and all of his injuries this season, including an injury to his throwing hand and now an undisclosed injury to his right leg — is the better option to potentially get Utah back into the Big 12 race. Title to bring or turn around The offense will pass to a less experienced rookie who is fully healthy and has already won two games.

Whittingham already said the conversation would happen if Rising wasn't released during the season, but his recent injury — and Utah's consecutive losses — changes the equation.

Regardless, Utah's offense has more issues than the one at center. Utah continues to lack execution in the red zone and play calling remains suspect in all parts of the field.

“Tonight we stood out as coaches, there’s no doubt about that. … We have to figure out, each and every one of us, what we can do to get better – as coaches, as players, how we can improve,” Whittingham said. “We know our shortcomings – I think that’s a positive thing – but we don’t seem to be able to fix them.”

“A very similar conversation to the one we had after the Arizona game: We got overrun, we were terrible in the red zone, lost the margin of turnover, missed a ton of tackles. And so, unfortunately and very disappointingly, it's the same plot. And as long as we have our red zone issues, we may not win another game this season until we fix them.

Beyond quarterback, Utah has a lot of questions to answer — and not a lot of time to address them before things spiral even further.