One thing seems clear to me, because there is no other logical option

[chinngiskhaan]

Whitt was misled in some way, and it lasted long enough that he didn’t go after a transfer QB.

Here is why I think he must have been misled: Whitt has proven over his decades as a coach that he is a trustworthy individual. He wants to win more than just about anything else. If he knew Rising was going to be out as long as he would, he would have known a lot of NOT winning was in his future. Because he loves to win, he would have done at least SOMETHING to remedy the situation. He did not do SOMETHING. In fact, he did NOTHING. The only logical explanation is he ACTUALLY THOUGHT Cam would be back early in the season.

I think it is pretty clear when you look at what members of the team have been saying, and how they’ve played, that they (including Whitt) were lead to believe Cam would be back by the Oregon State game. There was a clear shift in the attitude/feeling/atmosphere around the team from the very beginning of that game.

I don’t know when Whitt found out the truth, but I’m willing to bet it wasn’t until at least late in the offseason.

Cam, His surgeon, and/or the team’s doctors either deliberately mislead Kyle and Co or royally screwed the pooch. There is no way Whitt lets a potentially special season slip down the drain if he knows before spring ball that Cam’s injury was such that he likely wouldn’t play for at least a year. That just goes against everything Kyle is as a person.

[The Miami Ute]

Here comes the avalanche of downvotes. A number of people here posted the same thing yesterday and it drew the ire of a certain segment of our fanbase who can’t begin to believe these things could possibly happen.

[RoboUte]

Surprisingly I got upvoted for it. I think people with the landscape of facts are all reaching the same conclusion.

It defies logic that our coaching staff would not prepare any starting QB whatsoever. Therefore: they must not have had good information on Cam’s actual state of recovery.

Now this doesn’t excuse them from having no plan B whatsoever but I will never buy that we simply opted to move into the season with a QB we knew had a warzone for a knee.

[chinngiskhaan]

That also explains why Kyle would be so frustrated about the whole thing in his recent interview… because he just found out the truth and is upset that he wasn’t informed earlier.

[chinngiskhaan]

I don’t care about downvotes, and I don’t downvote unless someone posts something deliberately offensive or trollish. If I disagree, I comment or leave it alone if I don’t care enough to comment.

There are really only two options here, the one I picked is much more plausible IMO. Either Whitt legitimately thought Cam would be back early this year, implying that he was misled about the injury (whether intentionally or not), or Whitt is some extra special kind of idiot that, despite coaching successfully for decades, doesn’t know how many months are in a year, doesn’t know anything about injury recovery, and doesn’t understand what it means to be a competent QB.

Clearly, one of those options is more believable than the other. Most likely, he was misled, misinformed, whatever you want to call it, and when he found out he tried to use deception to take pressure off of Cam and the rest of the team.

Some people are pushing the narrative that Kyle is trying to force Cam to come back earlier than he should, but that narrative makes zero sense if you actually think about it. If reports from practice are true, Cam has not been playing well in practice, and when you watch him move around, he’s clearly hobbled. Why would Kyle want to force a QB who clearly isn’t playing well to play anyway?

The strangest part of all of this is that some doctors have cleared Cam, and another (who presumably has more knowledge and less at stake) has not. What are the team doctors seeing that has led to them clearing Cam? Are they looking at the same information that Cam’s surgeon is looking at? Are they seeing X-rays and such? How do they determine if he’s ready to come back or not, and why is their opinion so different than Cam’s surgeon? It’s possible that the team doctors are clearing him because they have an incentive to do so that isn’t in Cam’s best interest. It is also possible that they just don’t have all of the information that Cam’s Doctor has. I don’t know enough to know what to think about this.

[GameForAnyFuss]

There’s a third option: Whit tried to get a QB1-level player from the portal and couldn’t close the deal, leaving us with a bare cupboard.

And not being able to get a QB like that actually isn’t too far-fetched. No good QB is going to see the situation at Utah, where Rising may be back at the beginning of the season, and want to sign up for that. He would go someplace where he’s guaranteed the QB1 role.

[RoboUte]

That actually isn’t an explanation though for one simple fact. We continued to prepare with Cam as if Cam would be playing. He practiced through week 5 and the offensive scheme is still his. If the problem was simply that we couldn’t get a transfer then we would’ve prepared a QB from our roster and we didn’t. Cam was expected to return imminently all the way until this last week.

If we couldn’t get a transfer and knew this for a while and that was the only problem we would not be the worst offense in college football. As bad as anyone think Barnes, Johnson, and Rose are. They are not the worst in college football.

[GameForAnyFuss]

Cam was expected to return imminently all the way until this last week.

That’s exactly my point. During recruiting season, the coaches thought Cam would be back in the fall and would have told recruits that.

[RoboUte]

That actually wasn’t your point at all lol. Your point was that it’s possible we tried to get a transfer and failed, and that this is a possible explanation for having 0 QBs. Here’s a runndown of the conversation

Chinn: “Whitt legitimately thought Cam would be back early this year, implying that he was misled about the injury or Whitt is some extra special kind of idiot”

You: “There’s a third option: Whit tried to get a QB1-level player from the portal and couldn’t close the deal”

But now you’re telling my that your point was Chinn’s point 1 “Whitt legitimately thought Cam would be back early this year”. THEREFORE he was telling transfers that very thing. If your point was Chinn’s point, I’m confused as to why why you commented at all and proceeded to type something entirely unrelated.

Back to what I said to begin with, this still isn’t a good explanation for super obvious reasons. 1. just general injury return timelines and risks 2. probably a good idea to have a backup qb, no? If Whitt failed to get a transfer he failed a while ago and apparently refused to act further. Seems hard to believe.

[chinngiskhaan]

I don’t think that is a realistic explanation. All it takes is telling recruits, yeah… He’s still on the team, but he won’t be playing for at least a year. We had a good offense last year even with the running back clown show. I’m sure there are lots of QBs that would have wanted to play in that system.

There were a lot of transfer QBs this past offseason, and many if not most of them would have been better than anything we have behind Rising.

Yes, your explanation is POSSIBLE, but not really believable IMO.

[GameForAnyFuss]

All it takes is telling recruits, yeah… He’s still on the team, but he won’t be playing for at least a year.

But that’s not what coaches would have said in the spring (when the portal opened) because that’s not the story they had back then. In the spring, they thought Cam would be back in the fall. No QB1-level guy is going to come when he’s being told that Cam is slated to play in the fall, which was the story until quite recently.

[RoboUte]

Nobody with two brain cells to rub together thought Cam would be ready and firing on all cylinders come the season. I’m sorry but it is what it is at this point.

[22Ute22]

We’ve been through this already. If a QB has worries about Cam, tell them he most likely won’t be playing the season. If he comes back, he will not be at his peak playing capabilities. No capable QB is scared of losing their job to a one-legged QB who isn’t in top shape.

[2008 National Champ]

Is it just fan bias for why this keeps coming up?

No good QB is going to see the situation at Utah, where Rising may be back at the beginning of the season, and want to sign up for that.

Because I have a hard time believing that a top QB would say to themselves “Utah was #11 in ppg in 2022, has a solid defense that will give me the ball in good situations, traditionally has a great running game to take the pressure off me, and has a returning QB coming off major surgery who may not even be able to play in 2023. Nope I’m scared of that situation, let me go to a blue blood and compete against 5 stars.”

[RoboUte]

Everybody thinks D1 quarterbacks are as averse to competition as them.

[2008 National Champ]

Which is completely debunked with a quick glance at the recruiting sites. The most talented recruits go to the top schools, no matter how many talented QB’s are already on the roster or what the existing QB situation is.

Established starters at G5’s move up to P5’s. P5 QB’s, if they can, go to other P5’s with nothing more than a promise to compete and they should have been licking their lips at the Utah spot.

Now, if the argument is that Utah doesn’t have a history of putting QB’s in the league, that I can get on board with. Huntley and Smith being the only 2 since the 2005 draft would be a better reason that a transfer QB who was looking to make his bones before getting drafted would go elsewhere instead of challenging a one-legged QB who might not be recovered enough to play this year.

[RoboUte]

I noticed the shift in the team in the team as well during the Oregon State game. You could see it in the tenor of the team I actually typed about it in the live chat here, saying that it appeared that Cam had lost the locker room and got flamed for it, some here may be able to attest (eagle mountain later insinuated that I was drunk and I was just buzzed ok!). Now That’s what I said specifically but it wouldn’t have to be Cam, you can see those sorts of shifts if the team isn’t onboard with any type of big change. It could’ve been that they perceived Whitt’s course of action to be wrong. I can’t say for sure.

Regarding one thing you said, “I don’t know when Whitt found out the truth, but I’m willing to bet it wasn’t until at least late in the offseason”. It can’t have been late in the offseason because we signaled all the way through week five that we expected Cam to come back by giving him reps and refusing to scheme for our healthy QBs. Whitt has to have found out something new last week.

I can’t even imagine what the phones of the players look like this morning. If they were sharing any hushed whispers before the lid is all the way off now. The clear explanation makes Cam a dirtbag and our coaches fools. I don’t like either of those things.

[DataUte]

It is certainly possible. Or even misled himself with hope or loyalty.

But I also think, “why recruit at all?” Cam, if healthy, was possibly gone after last season (he did decide to return before the Rose bowl). But they had Rose, NJ, a couple others they thought would carry 2023. If Cam was healthy, we probably lose Rose and/or Nate to the portal. Cam hurt, we keep both. Rose hurt, we have to play NJ. In hindsight, maybe things could’ve, should’ve been different. But at the time, the decisions made sense.

Yes, maybe hubris that we can develop qbs (not a good track record), but we also haven’t been able to get a good portal qb that plays right away (Bentley, Brewer). Yes, Cam was also a transfer (and Jackson, but moved him to RB out of need), but it wasn’t all Roses (yet).

Yet, we are 4-1 with a ‘hold the fort’, conservative style (which caught up to us AT Oregon St.). Maybe it finally hit them thay Cam really wasn’t a ‘go’ soon and after Thu scratch, they felt duped or frustrated and going on the road against a good team did not help.

Regroup, reset roster 2.0, and let’s get to 9-3 and a decent bowl. We ain’t 3-peating. We ain’t CFP’ing. That’s OK. The ‘whatifs’ are disappointing. Revisionist history isn’t helpful. Blame is unproductive. It’s passed. Let’s support these 18, 20, 22 year olds playing for our entertainment. Let’s give a CCG MVP respect for trying to work back to playing even if it’s naive for a miracle. Yes, the coaches probably made some mistakes. But the level of the program over the years has been awesome.

[RoboUte]

“It’s passed”

Right but these problems were fairly apparent to most of the fanbase long before they had passed and those people called that out. That’s what’s frustrating. How can it be that people from the outside looking in would have made better decisions by simply using common sense?

[DataUte]

I just think I we can’t judge too harshly someone who has been with the program for 30 years, head coach for almost 20, and had recent success. Whitt has much more information and has to make many more decisions than us. So it may seem common, but it’s really quite complex. It’s not black and white and I admit, there probably were some bad decisions, but a leader has to make them along the way. In hindsight, of course they are or look like bad decisions. Hence why Whitt seems to be changing his tone and saying ‘no more’ to Thu decisions – have to be earlier and he has to move on to someone he probably (and justifiably) wants to succeed, has given so much to the program, and there was a ray of hope he could do it (and he certainly would be a better choice, maybe even at less than full health).

There’s a reason we are the armchair qb’s and not coaching D1 FB ;).

[Ghost of the HEB]

Not sure misled is the term, but it’s clear the camps are on different pages. It’s not a coincidence Cam went public with injury info and support for his surgeon the same week that Whit, noticeably frustrated, essentially told the media it’s time for Cam/Dr to sh*t or get off the pot.

Just a strange situation. If anyone would know the true extent of the injury, it’s Whit (unless that was truly kept secret from him somehow which I doubt). But his public communication regarding Cam’s return has been very different than his typical shtick. He’s normally always “we trust the process, the doctors, etc”. So to see him giving public ultimatums like this is unusual, and does give the impression he was sold a different bill of goods.

[RoboUte]

“Not sure misled is the term, but it’s clear the camps are on different pages”

I can buy that this is possibility for most issues. But the idea that this disconnect propagated for almost a year on pure unfortunate happenstance just doesn’t seem to make sense.

[2008 National Champ]

I’m going out on a limb here but I just don’t believe that Rising was able to keep the extent of his surgery from the Utah medical staff. Maybe you can pretend back pain isn’t as bad, or that you can play through a sprain. But the medical staff not having access to the surgical records and not being involved in what is being done locally to inform the surgeon?

Since the team staff is one of the gatekeepers on whether he plays or not, they have to be aware of what is going on. Yes Rising has HIPA rights but the team staff has the right to not let him play. Especially if they could be liable for allowing him to play against other medical advice. There is no way they have been clearing him to participate in team activities since June without as much knowledge as they could get their hands on.

I believe that everyone knew exactly where Rising was in his recovery and made their decisions based on that knowledge. Were they overly optimistic? It appears in hindsight that they were. My point of view since the beginning of the year was that you do everything you can to have a qualified starter ready to go (in-house or transfer) and then if Rising recovers and is able to beat that person out, it’s a bonus.

This crap of it’s Cam’s job whenever he wants it completely nullifies the “next man up; everyone earns their job every week in practice; no player is bigger than the team; player’s do it our way, we don’t do it theirs” mantras that get spewed every presser as if Utah has cornered the market on team culture and no one else in the country is capable of doing the same thing.

[RoboUte]

It’s technically entirely possible the extent realistic prognosis of Cam’s injury was known the entire time. That would mean that our coaching staff bet the season on two things happening simultaneously:

1. That Cam would recover at an actual inhuman pace. A pace that would probably render Cam Rising’s last 10 months worthy of very intense medical study. It would be an earth shattering recovery timeline. So probably what… between 0-1% chance on him showing up to play against Florida? (Realistically the chance is 0, I would contend that the injury Cam suffered from is simply not possible to recover from in that timeline.)

AND

2. That after completing this recovery we would not be reinjured, that having any backup ready was essentially a waste of time.

I just can’t comprehend that level of stupidity. Not only is this not a decision a legendary coach makes, its probably not a decision Utah’s stupidest fan 12 beers deep would make. The sheer foolishness of it makes this possibility implausible to me.

[Yergensen]

As with any leader at the top, Coach Whit in this case, you are responsible for knowing and then planning and executing accordingly.

If Whit didn’t know, he should have known. He is at least negligent and that is almost as damning as the other outcome. The other outcome is he did know, he mistakingly hoped for an early return while misevaluating his QB room and covered or tried to cover until his QB room failed and Cam disclosed the extent of his injury and recovery publicly.

I HATE when top execs put their negligence or mistakes on subordinates. Don’t let Whit make Cam the fall guy in your head.

This is what we know to be fact: 1) Whit has misevaluated the QB position his entire HC career 2) Whit has played information games regarding player health his entire HC career 3) Cam Rising has given all he can on the field to the U, playing injured multiple times, patiently waiting his turn to play 2X, fully rehabbing once already and working hard to get back early from a second devastating injury.

I am firmly in Cam’s camp. Whit was at least negligent for not being fully informed as to the extent of the injury. But I believe it goes further than that and he had Cam toe the line in his campaign, that is until yesterday. Whit isn’t where he his without Cam Rising. Shame on Whit for at least allowing Cam and his doctor to be made bad guys in this.

Before you come back with Cam’s NIL deals, think about what he’s sacrificed physically and potentially career wise relative to that money. And if we’re going to make this about not performing for large sums of money, then fairly do the same with Whit.

[The Miami Ute]

You’ve rested your case counsellor. I really do wish we had more transparency as to the reality of this situation. However, we’ll probably never really know the details, if ever, until both Cam and Brant have left Utah. It could be ugly.

[chinngiskhaan]

Whitt didn’t make Cam the fall guy, he’s been covering for Cam for months now.

Here is one plausible scenario where Whitt is misled and is not at fault in the least: 1. Cam gets injured 2. Cam’s surgeon says the surgery went really well, and he thinks Cam could be back by Oregon State, or maybe sooner 3. Cam repeatedly attests that his knee is feeling great, and he’s almost ready to go. this goes on for months 4. When Cam’s doctor is questioned the doctor never comes out and says what he really thinks, instead, for Cam’s benefit, he implies that Cam could be ready any day now. Why would the surgeon mislead someone like that? Maybe he likes Cam, and wants Cam to benefit from another year of NIL while rehabbing his knee injury.

One thing you need to remember, and if there are any medical professionals here, correct me if I’m wrong: Cam’s surgeon doesn’t need to tell Kyle jack s**t. He isn’t obligated to reveal anything to Kyle. He doesn’t have any ethical obligations to the UofU football team. As far as I know, he CAN’T tell Kyle anything Cam doesn’t want him to tell. I’m not suggesting Cam told the doctor to lie about the extent of his injury… but maybe the surgeon has been sugar coating certain things about the recovery from the injury.

*** I’m not claiming I believe this, it’s just one plausible scenario.

[The Miami Ute]

You’re a law student, aren’t you? Under HIPAA, is Cam protected from having to disclose his medical information to the university? I think that’s the only way your plausible scenario is feasible.

[chinngiskhaan]

Yes, I am in law school, but I haven’t taken that class, and probably won’t. That would probably fall under employment law and of course some kind of medical law class (neither of which I am interested in).

Your question sounds like the kind of hypothetical I could see on a health law exam at the UofU law school.

I know doctors have an ethical obligation to their patients, and to the general public (to promote health or something like that).

I don’t know enough about the relationship between Cam, the surgeon, and the team to know what sort of obligations the surgeon would be under. Seems to me that the surgeon isn’t obligated to be transparent with the team. Is the team doing their own thorough exams? Are they doing their own X-rays?

[2008 National Champ]

I said something similar above so my apologies for reiterating, but it makes more sense here.

No, Rising’s surgeon has no obligation to tell Utah anything. Unless Rising signs the disclosure form to allow the U Football Medical staff access to his records. I travel around the country for work and have to sign one of those forms every time I go to a different doctor, even for something as benign as a random drug test.

The U staff has to know what Rising’s physical state is and what the risks are before clearing him to participate in ANY team activities. Coming off an injury like his, he has to be cleared to use the weight room, facilities, training room, etc. So sure, Rising could choose not to have his records shared per HIPA. But he would not be part of the team like he currently is if he withheld them. It would be malpractice for the staff to allow him to participate without doing their own evaluation and that has to include all relevant medical history.

[The Miami Ute]

What do you think is the most likely scenario?

1. Whitt knew the risks with Cam but decided to roll the dice with a weakened QB room?

OR

2. Whitt hasn’t been getting the real picture behind Cam’s injury?

Both of these are bad news but which one do you think is most likely? Or do you have an alternate scenario?

[2008 National Champ]

Everything since Rising went down in the Rose Bowl has been so strange that I really can’t pinpoint what the plan was, is, or will be.

– Rising gets hurt in the game, Barnes has been the clear #2 all season so he comes in. That is the last time I thought I had a clear picture of what was going on.
– Rising is out for spring ball so the staff decides that the previous season’s #2 will not move up to #1. Instead he will be a limited participant while they evaluate Rose & Johnson. What?
– Rose comes out of spring the clear #1.A with Barnes & Johnson battling for #3/4 while Rising is expected back for fall camp. Huh? That seems like a fast recovery for a knee but I guess if you really think Rising is back, that’s why you don’t get a transfer.
– OnlyU beats Whitt to the punch and tells us that Rising has been cleared to start throwing in June, just in time for “voluntary” summer workouts. Wow, none of know what Rising’s injury was but it must not have been serious since he has rehabbed enough to be cleared to participate. Now I see why Whitt didn’t bring in a transfer even though I would have in his spot.
– Fall camp starts and Rising isn’t cleared to participate. WHAT?!? How is he not cleared when we were told in June that he was good to go? Not getting a transfer in case Rose isn’t ready seems like a weird decision. I wonder what setback is causing Rising’s delay?
– We hear in almost every interview during camp that Rising is close, just needs the clearance to be rubber stamped and he will start against Florida. Wait a minute, you’re going to start a guy without any live reps in camp on day 1. Well, I’m not there at practice so I’ll trust the staff on this one but it just doesn’t feel right.
– Rose gets hurt in camp. Well crap, Rose out, Rising maybe, Barnes has been ignored for 8 months and I don’t think that Johnson can get it done. Hamstrings aren’t the cause of those bad throws I saw in the spring game. Where’s that transfer when you need him?
– Fast forward to the OSU game where I see Rising in what looks like a carbon fiber wrap on his leg. Is that damn thing even game legal? I knew he’d be in a brace and his mobility would be limited but dang, that thing looks like something a terminator would wear. How could anyone in their right mind think this kid would be ready at any point this season. WHY didn’t you get a transfer?

I gotta go with your option 1. Whitt knew the risks of Rising not playing but thought coming out of spring that he had 3 good options to get him through the season in case Rising took longer than he hoped. I don’t think there’s any chance that anyone on the staff at Utah didn’t know that he tore all 3 ligaments and what the chances were for recover.

So in this case, I think I agree with Eagle from a couple of days ago when comparing to the RB room. He thought he had enough bodies after spring and that they would be able to get the job done. Once he’d made that decision, he pretty much has to ride it out and as long as the team kept winning, even though the position was underperforming, he was going to stick with what had been working so far. Now that the position has cost him a game, he can’t hope anymore and I think we will see a much different offensive scheme on the 14th. But I don’t for a second believe that Whitt was not fully aware of all the possible permutations.

[The Miami Ute]

Many thanks for the comprehensive reply and analysis. If true, and we’ll probably never know, it’s just shocking to me that Whitt was willing to roll the dice with three unproven QBs, especially given the outstanding amount of QB talent present in the conference. I mean it’s almost bordering on unmitigated hubris.

[2008 National Champ]

We’ve all made decisions that in retrospect, we may not have even considered if we had to do it again. The good thing is ours aren’t witnessed by an entire sporting audience. Whitt isn’t infallible and he’ll make more before he’s done but it doesn’t lessen his accomplishments in any way.

I think that’s the rub on here. Whitt can be a great coach and also get it wrong sometimes. All of these posts are great for Tony’s traffic but really, if the Whitt or die people don’t make the decision that any criticism means you want the guy fired, the rest of us make one or two posts about how we wish things were better this year and move on to something else until the next game.

Instead, we’ve gone so far down the rabbit hole that some won’t be satisfied with less than a timeline showing exactly who knew what and when. Every day I say that I’m just going to read and not post anymore on the topic and yet here I am cranking out another couple hundred words.,,

[The Miami Ute]

You are indeed a scholar on this subject. I myself haven’t written so much about any particular matter since my grad school days.

[DataUte]

I’ll still take all that from Whit, the winningest coach in Utah FB history. Bowls nearly every year. 10-1 (11-1 co-shared with Urban) with Fiesta, Sugar bowl wins, 2x conference champion and 2x to Rose Bowl. He has his style, his brand, his quirks, but so do all coaches. I’d take him over anyone.

That’s not to say I’m a pure Whit apologist. He makes mistakes. And that lands on him. The argument ‘if he didn’t know, he should have’ is an interesting one. Fitzgerald at NW got fired because he ‘should have know about the hazing’ even after he heard whispers of it put in some better reporting and zero tolerance policies. And now he’s suing for $130M based on that ‘he didn’t know’.

[2008 National Champ]

I think you forgot to put the last 4 bowls in Whitt’s loss column. He’s 10-5 on his own, 11-5 if you include 2004.

[AZUTE]

A tier 1 transfer portal QB is a 1.5 mil in NIL money.

Whit figured he could win with Defense special teams and running the ball with Rose or Barnes at QB.

Then literally everyone got hurt including the kicker.

Injuries have gutted the O and derailed the season.

The goal now is just win 6 games and get to a bowl.

Cam and Brant are not coming back.

[lgt4141]

In all the frustration of the entire situation at least Utah has a home and a conference to fight to win next year.

At this point, recognize Cam isn’t coming back, hope for the best for the rest of the season and that Washington State and Oregon State play for the conference championship.

[Charlie]

I think we are in a pit of assumptions that can make us look like the blind men and the elephant. We are guessing what was known when. When did the doctors know the extent of the injury, before during or after surgery? If and when the LA doctor had assessment that got all the way to Whitt? When was it apparent that Rising would miss 5 games? When was this point reached relative to reasonable portal recruiting? Is that a great time to begin engagement with potential QBs? If it was late January how does that work? Is it possible that the great LA doctor could create expectations he could do better, much better than average doctors do with this injury? Could the U doctors know less than the LA doctor that completed the surgery? Was Cam optimistic given his age, experience with surgery, using such a great doctor? This is like breaking down events in WWII without knowing exactly when currently known info became known. Is it possible the timing for alarm was much less than ideal for recruiting in the portal? Do we know anything about what was attempted at that late date? Do we know where Rose would have been at game 1 without an injury?

How do any of us know that sitting next to Whitt day by day with the info that was actually known at the time, we could have given him better advice than the action he took each day. If so, consider this: Whitt makes $6M a year and if any of us could come close to making better calls they are in the wrong line of work. Of course I would not suggest Whitt or Cam can’t make mistakes they would not like to change. They are simply more accomplished than at least half the fans. Maybe I am pollyanna or too trusting, but I don’t want to be that guy that is like the aborigine standing in the desert looking up at a jet in the sky telling his son: whatever in hell that thing is, if it was mine I would make it go faster. I consider myself a bit of a student of football and have been lucky enough to attend coaching clinics at the U and have come away feeling Whitt is an encyclopedia on football and by comparison my understanding can go on a post-it note.

Sure, there are many other courses of action that we can now see would have been better. Football prep in all cases can always be much improved. The conference is full of great coaches each of which have found themselves in even more of a pit than Whitt currently has, or they simply have not been HC long enough to reach that inevitable pit. The business has situations that just go wrong. We all agree our QB situation has gone wrong. My interest is what are the possible actions that can dig us how far out of this pit. I will head up to the Cal game with peeked interest in what will be done next. All in all, it remains very entertaining to watch my university play football.

[The Miami Ute]

Charlie, the moment that you get back the MRI results is the moment that you know the extent of the injury. The real question is whether that information was communicated to Whitt.

[Charlie]

Do we know when that moment was? Was that moment a good time to begin action in the portal? Prior to the Rose Bowl, I wonder if Cam was already leaning towards returning for another year. Possibly, due to draft predictions, Cam gave Whitt reason to feel he had a 2023 QB. I just think Whitt would have been looking at the portal if he felt Cam was leaving. I would like to know when Whitt knew he did not have Cam and also knew Rose and NJ would not be his expectation for QB2. Do we know the date of the surgery?

[The Miami Ute]

Having gone through ACL reconstruction surgery as a non-professional athlete, an MRI usually takes place immediately after the swelling in the area has gone down in a sufficient manner. At most, you’re talking maybe a week post-injury. His surgery took place sometime in January, I don’t have the exact date.

[Charlie]

I don’t know how much the MRI revealed, sometimes surgery changes the picture, reveals extent, plus or minus, or provides insight into additional damage. I am acquainted with surgery noting more than the MRI. If a timeline was known it could paint a picture we may not see now. And, I suppose, I tend to give the benefit of doubt to Whitt. I think everyone does agree that Whitt could be more forthcoming about injury details. Maybe that is something some of us accept to gain the other advantages that come with Whitt.

[The Miami Ute]

Well, an MRI would definitely reveal the tears to all of the ligaments and the meniscus. That would give the performing surgeon a ballpark idea as to the length of the recovery period.

[Uphoric]

Sorry. . . I was not going comment on this post but the more I thought about it, the more I realized things must be said. This is a very misinformed post by Chingis. The point is none of us on this know more than 1/1000 of what’s going on in the program. The Utes had/have 5 quarterbacks in the system, and yes, one is a transfer. The first THREE are hurt. The coaches chose Nate because he gives us the best chance at winning. The comments about Led not being a true QB coach are ludicrous! He’s been coach QB’s for 20+ years. . . You should get into coaching because you know so much about! As a former coach, the experts are always the ones who think they no more but know the least. Good luck with your new coaching careers.

[RoboUte]

“The point is none of us on this know more than 1/1000 of what’s going on in the program”

You actually just have to be vaguely familiar with knee surgery tbh.

[2008 National Champ]

How do you know how many on here have coached besides you? Or have relevant experience in medicine, either as the injured or the medical professional side? How many have played high level sports?

It is pretty disingenuous to claim on an anonymous message board that your experience allows insight others do not and thus your opinion is the only one that is relevant. We are all trying to come to conclusions based on partial information and it is the 24/7/365 fan interest that has taken college football from a regional intermural exercise to a multi-billion dollar industry.

[Author]

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