Cam is out for the season with a leg injury; Isaac Wilson will be the starter for Utah football

SALT LAKE CITY — Cam Rising's tenure in Utah is likely over.

On Monday, Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham announced that Rising was out “indefinitely” with a lower leg injury and that freshman quarterback Isaac Wilson, who started three games for Utah after Rising was injured early in the season, would be the team's starter will be. until further notice.”

“I can't give you a timeline, it could be the rest of the season – I'm not exactly sure – but I know it'll be a minute,” Whittingham said.

However, on Monday evening, Whittingham announced in a statement that Rising's injury was season-ending.

“After further assessment by our medical staff, Cameron Rising’s injury has unfortunately been classified as season-ending,” Whittingham said. “During his time at Utah, Cam was both a great player and a leader of our program, and we will obviously miss him. Any future developments regarding his college admissions will be discussed at a later date.”

After suffering a throwing hand injury in the first half of the second game of the season, Rising was unavailable for most of the season. But the seventh-grader returned to the field Friday as the team's starter.

But after a few plays, an Arizona State defender rolled over on Rising's right leg, leaving the veteran QB hobbling. Rising managed to play the entire game but struggled to get the offense going due to inconsistent passing and hesitant decision making.

Whittingham said after the game that it was “obvious that he wasn't 100%,” but the coaching staff opted to keep Rising in the game – even though it was obvious to everyone that Rising was hampered by an injury and Utah's offense Had difficulty coming together a consistent drive.

“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 Friday night. “And like I said, Cam has been great for us in the past.”

Asked Monday whether he thought the team should have made a halftime substitution for Wilson, Whittingham reiterated that Rising wanted to play.

“Cam is a warrior – wanted to play,” Whittingham said. “We really moved the ball at the end of the first half and thought, 'Okay,' even though we didn't get to the end zone. And then we moved the ball well on the first drive of the second half. … We had this thought – would this be a move we would make – but he wanted to end it.

“He is a seasoned veteran and would have let us know if he felt he wasn't effective enough and that's why we didn't make the move. And that's the decision that really our offensive coaches, our coordinator and quarterbacks coach, made.”

Although Rising's status for the rest of the season is uncertain, Whittingham has previously mentioned that the coaching staff could simply decide to keep Wilson around for the entire season. Even a brief respite from Rising raises doubts about a return.

Therefore, Rising may have the opportunity to return to Utah for an eighth season based on a new NCAA rule that restores eligibility to players who were forced to sit out a season before open transfers became mainstream.

But whether that remains a possibility – or whether Rising would even be open to it – remains to be seen, although a return seems unlikely.

“That’s a possibility, I think; I don’t know,” Whittingham said. “Here too, we would have to examine compliance in detail. And I'm not even sure Cam would be interested in going that route. He has a lot to think about, so just take a step back now. Let him get his recent injury thoroughly diagnosed and headed to rehab, and then this would be something we'd talk about sooner rather than later.

When Rising plays Utah for the last time on Friday, he will leave the Utes after 30 games and just two full seasons. He finished his career with 6,127 passing yards and 53 touchdowns while helping Utah to back-to-back Pac-12 championships.

Utah now turns its attention to Wilson as the starter for the Utes. The former Corner Canyon High star has made strides in every game he has played this season and will continue to “be the guy,” according to Whittingham.

“There is no guesswork,” he added. “He will do all the reps, which is about 75% of the reps during the work week, and Brandon Rose will get the remaining 25%.”

According to Whittingham, Rose remains the “solid No. 2” and there are “no plans to split the reps in the game or anything like that.”

“If anything happens to Isaac, you’ll see Brandon,” Whittingham added. “But unless things go really wrong, Isaac is our man and we have great confidence in him.”