Riley’s interview with Cam today. Puts to bed a bunch of rumors.

[Utesbyfive]

I hope this stops the ridiculous rumors that are flying around about Cam Rising. By the sound of his voice, you can tell it’s all affected him. Injury timelines can be unpredictable from one day or one week to the next.

Stop bickering & get behind him.
pic.twitter.com/AAPcLvGgsq

— Alex Markham (@AMarkhamRivals) October 5, 2023

He’s got all the slack in the world from me. Good luck Cam.

[highlandute7]

Cam opens up

[Ghost of the HEB]

Rumors it puts to bed: That Cam is just collecting NIL and voluntarily sitting out.

Rumors it supports: He puts all stock into what the LA surgeon says and will play when he gives him the green light. “My body has to recover, and there’s not really anyone that can say much besides the best doctor in the world, Dr. ElAttrache, down in LA can say.”

[Utegator]

And amplified by Whitt’s policy of leaving the fan base in the dark about injuries. Knowing he didn’t just tear his ACL would’ve been all we needed to let the situation run its course. But makes the fact that they were splitting the starter reps during practice all the more confusing.

[Utah]

I think Whitt’s secrecy hurts him more than helps. For example, is everyone knew the extent of Rising’s injury, no one questions him.

If we could go to fall/spring camp, he’d know if Rose was good or not and the question of “should Whitt have gotten a transfer QB” would be gone.

I also think expectations would be tempered if we could see practices. This year, for example, instead of a top 10 ranking and confidence, we’d be like “we have known Johnson struggles to throw and Barnes ain’t it since spring. We aren’t top 10, etc.”

And if Whitt wants secrecy to not help opposing coaches…we know what’s coming. Whitt hasn’t changed in 20 years and Ludwig changes even less.

[RoboUte]

“And amplified by Whitt’s policy of leaving the fan base in the dark about injuries. Knowing he didn’t just tear his ACL would’ve been all we needed to let the situation run its course”

That’s not even the s**tty part. As fans our opinions on his recovery timeframe really don’t matter. The really s**tty part is that the coaching staff knew and still managed to f**k up this hard.

[UtMtBiker]

The fans hate it. The networks hate it. Vegas hates it. I suspect the policy won’t be as such much longer.

[Utesbyfive]

No, It also dispelled that rumor by confirming it. He is waiting for clearance from the doctor who did the surgery. That’s entirely his prerogative. I will not judge him for that at all. As he says, it is his body. It’s his choice.

I think it’s good that he’s come clean about how extensive the injury was. It sounds like he and Brant are in the same boat. Bad knee injuries.

[Ghost of the HEB]

I agree. Can’t fault Cam for wanting to follow the guidance of one of the most renowned surgeons in America.

Like others have said, this can be viewed as an indictment on the way Whittingham handles injuries. There’s no way Cam was going to play against Florida, but Whittingham talked as if it was a game time decision all the way to kickoff. This created false expectations that Cam was right on the doorstep of playing, and has stirred up a bunch of negative rumors as to why he isn’t playing.

[EagleMountainUte]

So are the reps in practice rumors as well? I don’t get it.

This really feels like a control the narrative thing at week 6. If this was the story at week 1 or 2 I buy into other theories.

This seems like a colossal indictment on the Coaching.

[Ghost of the HEB]

No. Cam talked how it’s impressive he’s even practicing. Obviously everyone’s not on the same page, tho, when it comes to him practicing meaning he needs to be playing.

[EagleMountainUte]

Yes if you are taking reps as if you will start you shouldn’t be doing that knowing a target of 12 months is the most plausible thing.

[RustyShackleford]

Bingo. It’s BS to take reps away from NJ who desperately needs them when you know you aren’t going to be playing that week.

[RoboUte]

“Cam talked how it’s impressive he’s even practicing”

…this dude’s not coming back is he.

[RoboUte]

Technically he is voluntarily sitting out. He doesn’t have to move on that doc’s timeline as opposed to the others. It’s totally his right to do that and is in no way the wrong decision but it is 100% voluntary to be clear.

[SOWhat]

I’ll reiterate why I have said before. Cam can’t say “I’m ready to play “ , Coach Whit can’t say”I’m playing him, he’s ready”, only the DOCTOR has that call. Unfortunately the player thinks ready, the coach thinks he’s ready, but the DOCTOR checks the knee and says his not ready. Doctors don’t have a crystal ball, they use empirical tests and experience, things look good one week and not as good the next week, and are intentionally vague. Believe me I’ve had two back surgeries, and both hips, after my last back surgery, last November, I was told my sciatic
Nerve pain would take 3 months to have relief, then he said 6 months, it’s been 11 months and only partial relief.
Surgery isn’t an exact science. Sometimes things feel great one day and not so much the next. I think, or hope, is more than the reality, by players and coaches, not out of intent to deceive.
GO UTES!!

[2008 National Champ]

No one forced you to follow your doctor’s treatment and recovery plan. You have the option to ignore his recommendations if you so desire.

For Rising to play for Utah, he has to get approval from the Utah medical staff. Apparently that has already happened which is why he is practicing. His surgeon disagrees. Rising has the option to choose between those two entities.

Part of the issue is that if Rising goes back out and aggravates the existing injury, his surgeon does not want it to be because he advised wrong. But the decision at this point is Rising’s.

[EagleMountainUte]

Well this would have been information that I hope Whitt knew. I believe him saying shutting down for 12 months(like Murray)pretty much says it all.
I just don’t get why you give him reps.

[BD]

I am speculating here, but I sense lot of nervousness and frustration and, possibly even some fear in that interview (maybe Whitt did not want him to disclose the details). I sound and speak exactly the same way when I have those negative emotions. And, he did say he wasn’t planning on saying those things – they just came out at the moment, which is what I do when I need to get something off my chest – I rarely plan it – it just happens.

To be honest, I would say he handled the interview extrmely well, despite being nervous, if that was the case.

All the speculation out there and not being able to clear up any of it has to have been enormously frustrating.

Props to him for clearing this up, and for speaking on the fly without planning it – sometimes those are the best ways to communicate difficult things. (If he had planned in advance to clear things up, he probably wouldn’t have said as much, and probably would have held back on some details, or even would have spun the words to say something else.)

I hope the absolute best for Cam Rising – first for himself, but also for the team.

[The Miami Ute]

Can we all agree that, if Whitt knew that Rising tore his TRIAD during the Rose Bowl, that not bringing in an experienced QB from the portal was a strategic blunder? I mean folks, from my knowledge of this type of injury, it’s possible that Rising never plays another down and probable that he doesn’t play in a single game this year. How would most of you feel about the QB situation before the season if you knew that one of Rose, Johnson or Barnes would be the Utes’ starting QB this season? I know I would be pretty much writing the season off, no matter how spectacular the defense is.

[EagleMountainUte]

If this interview was conducted a week after Florida I could totally understand. This just raises more questions in my mind.

Based on the money that is flowing in as well I think I have changed my mind on the injury disclosures. This 100% should change based on how the program is essentially evolving into semi pro league. Let people be informed on how their money is spent.

I think the school did right by Rising. I don’t necessarily believe in the Next Man Up crap anymore.

Beyond that I don’t get how anyone could think this puts to bed any rumors. If anything this is like gasoline on a fire.

[The Miami Ute]

Completely agree. I just can’t understand how, fully well knowing that your presumptive QB1 had an injury that could potentially keep him out the entire season, you just rolled with what you had…an unknown Rose, a limited Barnes, and a totally inexperienced Johnson, and called it good. It’s the biggest blunder associated with Utah football this century.

[oc_ute]

@miami ute. the portal is a non-starter. who would have come here with cam on the roster. you won’t lure a quality guy

[The Miami Ute]

How could you possibly think that? All that Whitt had to tell any one of the excellent QBs that went from one team to another this offseason is that Rising suffered a TRIAD injury and will more than likely be out for the season. I mean, I know enough about those injuries that, no matter what Cam says or thinks, you’re looking at 12 to 18 months away from the field of play.

[RustyShackleford]

1

[The Miami Ute]

Hendon Hooker suffered the same injury as Cam last November. Though he was drafted by the Lions, he has yet, up to this point, to take part in any official football related activities. Please realize the seriousness of this injury. An individual is lucky to get back playing within a year. If Cam is lucky, then he’ll be ready to play after the season is over. That’s the crux of this whole thing.

[RoboUte]

Here let me solve that problem for you.

Transfer QB: But don’t you have a really great returning starter?

Whitt: Kind of, his knee is spaghetti but we’re not telling anyone. He won’t play in 2023

Boom. I don’t understand how it’s hard to conceptualize that people can share information with one another.

[RustyShackleford]

“However if he does come back you are on the bench.” No player is doing that. Use YOUR brain

[22Ute22]

You’re the one that needs to use your brain. Football players are competitive and bet on themselves. Cam is completely betting on himself returning from a 12-month average recovery time injury and playing at the same level he was playing at before. You think a good, healthy QB would feel threatened by a guy coming off of a major injury? No, they wouldn’t be threatened at all, and you don’t tell them that anyway. If this hypothetical QB was playing amazing, you’d be a fool to sit him and replace him with a QB coming off of a major injury, that hasn’t played a snap all season. You would let the hypothetical QB keep his momentum and see how far he can take the team. It would also be beneficial in letting Cam get more time to rest. Imagine if Utah had gotten Taulia Taigavouloa, which was rumored to be in the cards. We would be 5-0 and would probably beat USC and Oregon. Apparently he backed off because Cam was coming back.

[DrahtUte]

When you say “if Whitt knew…” I think you’re describing a hypothetical which isn’t relevant. I think the team doctors really did tell Whitt that Cam would be able to play this season, and he believed them.

I think if Whitt made a significant error in all this its that he didn’t anticipate the importance of what the performing surgeon was going to say. But I don’t think at all that Whitt somehow knew all along how this was all going to play out and he was good with it. I think he got bad advice from team medical personnel.

One other point I’ve wanted to make is that it’s also possible that Whitt was searching the portal for a QB but nothing panned out.

[The Miami Ute]

Why can’t you just admit that Whitt made a mistake and it’s coming around to bite the team in the ass? It’s as clear as day.

[EagleMountainUte]

It is entirely possible Rising was deceptive as well and the coaching staff handled it the way they did.

I don’t get why people think this one interview at week six somehow absolves all that was said previously by Rising.

[The Miami Ute]

Eagle, I don’t really place any blame on Rising or Kuithe in this situation. That being said, you could make the case that Rising, by all of his statements and comments prior to today, has been a willing accomplice in the charade. I mean, we’ve all heard him say numerous times this season things like “I’m close…getting my timing down…could be any day now, just need to confirm with the doctors…etc…”. As you’ve alluded to in your comments, there are a lot of people that spend a lot of money on this team that probably deserve a little bit better level of transparency.

[EagleMountainUte]

I don’t invest heavily in the program as others so I can only assume they feel a little deceived.

I feel mostly for the offensive players. We have said this so many times but the QB is the most important position on the field. He is the first to handle the ball and you can’t expect Johnson to just pick it up with limited reps. Just thinking of the way they handled it would you think an incoming transfer would want to deal with that BS Miami? Rose and Johnson are young guys excited for a shot. Barnes is just happy to be there. We can assume it may change their strategy but what if transfers though well I won’t get a fair shot because Rising will take my reps come August and September. It is now week six and we are finally hearing a full scheme week being dedicated to Johnson. But now you have Rose in the mix. It is like chaos.

[RoboUte]

I don’t want to believe it at all but the possibility that Cam has been misleading to the coaching staff is the simplest explanation.

[DrahtUte]

Well…because we are 4-1 and a top 20 team who may get Cam Rising back for the rest of the year with a chance to be three time conference champions.

But mostly because your hypothetical is ludicrously stupid. You think Kyle Whittingham knew all along that his star quarterback wasn’t going to play this season but sank a bunch of resources and reps into him anyway. What’s your explanation for this? That our hall of fame coach was just too stupid? He should have listened to a bunch of self-proclaimed geniuses on the Internet and found some star QB in the portal?

By the way, who was that amazing QB in the portal who was going to come here and save our season if Kyle was half as smart as you? Funny, how easy you all make it sound.

I agree with Kyle’s strategy regarding Cam this season. The opportunity for an exceptional season was there. You have to take risks to have amazing seasons when you’re a school like Utah. The risks we took to get Cam in this season were worth it, even if they don’t pan out. Pretending there was some magical other option that would have made us more than a mediocre team is just wishful thinking.

[EagleMountainUte]

We never said we were a genius you filled that in all by yourself. Just ignore me if you want to condescend and act that way. This is a fan board I am allowed to question the decisions of a coaching staff that clearly mishandled something.

[ORute]

No one is calling Whitt stupid, no one questioning his coaching ability, but with the information available it seems evident that this might have been handled differently and/or better. Im not sure what why you are attacking someone’s POV that’s now held by many. This is a CFB message board so this is pretty much all we do, we’re not yes-men and apologists for the coaching staff–who get paid millions to make these calls. Questioning strategy and decision is perfectly normal, your hyperbole is a bit much. No one is saying someone’s stupid, a bad coach, etc. Just that things could have been handled differently from a managerial POV. You agree with Kyle’s strategy, other’s dont–most of us are working with incomplete info, so we’re merely giving opinions, not worth getting worked up over.

I got my MBA from the U, started and run a business, and yes have seen poor managerial decisions across many orgs. Being a hall of fame coach doesnt make you immune. Its not uncommon and people often don’t make what turns out to be the correct decisions a s**t ton. Does that make them stupid, bad at their job or dumber than others? No, just means a certain decision, strategy or gameplan didn’t turn out as expected. That’s normal for orgs, for coaches, for anyone. As Ute fans on a message board, you seem shocked that we are critiquing a managerial decision that has led to unnecessary rumors, a last place offense and no clear direction for our offense moving forward. I don’t think anyone expected an alternate ‘magical option’, just a hedging to focus on building the offense around other QBs as it appeared now that Cam was unlikely to be healthy this season. This is based on results thus far. Feel free to disagree, just refrain from generalizations, name-calling and hyperbole. Ironically we’re all on the same team.

[The Miami Ute]

1. Rising is not playing this season. If he did, he should change his name to Lazarus. As I said before, look up his injury and see what the recovery period is for an athlete. That in itself, plus the numerous case studies related to present and past athletes, should have been red lights flashing for Whitt.
2. There are only four offenses that are worse than the Utes in the entire FBS. You are what the stats say you are.
3. The meat of the schedule is coming (just like winter). I want to hear from you and get your perspective if/when the Utes get boatraced by the monster offenses that are coming our way. I wonder if you’ll continue to shill for Whitt then.
4. I’m a Utah grad and go to a number of football games each season. I also hold season tickets to a number of other Ute sports. That, and the money I spend, gives me the right to call out managerial moves that seem half-baked to me (like going into a season with three completely unproven QBs while the competition has NFL talent at the same position). Not having a reasonable, quality QB around in case Rising doesn’t play this season was playing with fire and the Utes are perilously close to getting burnt.

[RoboUte]

“The risks we took to get Cam in this season were worth it”

We didn’t take a risk, we gave away the house, there was no possibility of Cam starting these prior weeks and we now know that for sure. the risks were not worth it because for something to be worth it it has to have yielded some kind of value in the end. We gained absolutely nothing by kneecapping our offense on a bet no one with a frontal cortex would make.

As to why that is? Anyones guess, but there aren’t any reassuring explanations.

[Utesbyfive]

We’ll never know, with Rose going out, if it was a mistake. I think they must have been banking a lot on him.

[EagleMountainUte]

You are ignoring the weeks between Rose’s injury and today. I mean we can add asterisks like Jackson and Bernard. That is connected to it but still doesn’t explain the overall handling of reps and game prep.

[ORute]

I believe this was the case. That they expected Rose to be the heir apparent and things seemed to be going that way. I think Ludwig’s offense is geared toward a pocket passer who can read D’s and make adjustments at the line. There was never a gamelan for NJ or BB, that seems clear. No one also expected a historical level or injuries–a health MB or JJ and our O opens up. I do think we could have adapted better even on short notice. Our playcalling this year has been bizarre. Lud has always liked jet sweeps, finding TE’s 20 yards upfield, etc. We’re seeing a very very conservative call sheet. Yes, some is O-line, some not trusting NJ. But no reason not to open it up–cant be much worse

[RoboUte]

It’s still mind boggling that they absolutely refused to prepare their actual starting quarterbacks for almost half the season even if you assume Plan A was Rose.

[22Ute22]

Yeah, I would genuinely be shocked if he played at all, let alone in the month of October. I could maybe see him coming back in game 9, but by then, we will have lost to USC and Oregon, and our season would be over. Might as well play Brandon Rose at that point and see what he can do.

[RoboUte]

This reflects so poorly on the coaching staff.

Not only did they not seek a transfer, they seemingly put no effort into preparing the underclassmen at all. I’m left wondering what exactly they did at all?

Did Cam lie to them? It sounds weird but I’m having trouble accepting that a football coach goes into a season with no plan at QB but a guy recovering like he’s in an action movie.

[RustyShackleford]

How do you know they didn’t try and get a transfer portal QB? It’s 100% possible they reached out and got shot down.

[RoboUte]

The idea that a QB room must be bereft of challenge for anyone to join it is the silliest idea propagated by a bunch of dweebs. If you’re a QB trying to make your way to the NFL and you don’t think you can beat out a guy that was never going to make it in the NFL anyway and is also on one knee then you weren’t the guy we needed anyway.

[utefansince79]

Rose going out late in fall practice was an unexpected blow.

One challenge I would think you have with QBs is recruiting a competent experienced back up and telling them they ‘may’ play, but only if a couple others ahead of them get banged up. With most other positions, you can rotate players in to give them some reps, but QBs generally play the whole game and if it is a blowout, the backup comes in and generally to avoid RUTS will mostly just hand the ball off to the #4 RB.

Do hope we see Rising at some point. Been fun watching him and we’ll never forget his 3 victories against USC.

[ORute]

This is 100% confirmation that this whole thing is on how the staff handled this. Not disclosing injuries is one thing, but to put as your opening day depth chart Rising as QB1 with statements that say a decision will be made a day or 2 before kickoff, knowing that he’s nowhere near ready is really misleading. It creates expectations, rumors and does nothing beneficial. The staff knew he was nowhere near ready, the injury far greater than anyone knew but yet kept it secret and played it off like he’s ready to return ‘any day now.’ That created expectations he should be back then rumors and frustration when he wasn’t. Most staffs would basically be planning for him not to play this season, building around that and managing expectations as such. Then if he does miraculously come back mid-season its icing on the cake.

The second part is that they knew all this back in Jan, yet continued to gameplan around Rising. I mean, his whole knee is blown and you base your offense around him returning in 9 months? I dont think we needed a portal qb, but getting NJ better prepared would have been beneficial. Its clear there’s been nothing playing to NJ or the other qbs strengths, just run to hold down the fort. Staff totally mismanaged this and really did more harm than good.

[EagleMountainUte]

According to Rising’s own statements it is actually unprecedented. I am not saying the coaching staff is 100% at fault. Rising has his part in all of this.

[RoboUte]

“The second part is that they knew all this back in Jan, yet continued to gameplan around Rising.”

Yep. I’ve been saying it for weeks, this is either devastating incompetency or someone was lying about how bad their injury was.

[22Ute22]

I doubt Cam was able to lie about it. I’m assuming the Utah medical staff would want to see documentation about the injury, no? Even if Cam did lie about it simply being an ACL tear, which I’m not going to assume, it’s still incompetence by Whitt. Even just an ACL tear would be difficult to come back from in 7.5 months (mid January to late August), let alone playing at your previous level. Should have gotten a portal QB regardless.

[RustyShackleford]

You act like the portal is a grocery store that you can just go in and get whatever you want off the shelf

[2008 National Champ]

USC, Colorado, Arizona State and Texas State all completely rebuilt their teams using the portal the last two years.

Clayton Isbell, Gabe Reid, Mohamoud Diabate, Landon Morris, Logan Kendall, Briton Allen, Landen King, Mycah Pittman, Emery Simmons, Cole Becker, Miles Battle, Logan Fano, and Levani Damuni all came out of the portal the last two years. Jackson, Karene Reid and Rising are starters who transferred before that.

Seems like some pretty decent off the shelf shopping to me.

[ProudUte]

I will probably get some downvotes for this and that’s okay. I am just expressing how I feel and not how anyone else should feel.

I think the whole secrecy policy that we have is BS. I thought that 5 years ago and I really think it now. How much has the secrecy helped our offense? Would we have just got 150 yards total offense if everyone knew Johnson was going to be the starter? It should have been up to Rising and Kuithe to say what the status was. If they wanted to keep it quiet, I could respect that. But, Kuithe and Rising have both indicated that they were told to keep things quiet.

Our offense is completely pathetic. We got less than 200 yards and 7 points. We have been known to get more than that in a single quarter. I am personally disgusted with our offensive coaching and effort. I know we are missing two all-conference players, but other teams seem to be able to produce more than 200 yards in similar situations.

I am very unhappy with how the coaching staff has handled this whole thing. I do not have any problem with Cam or Brant. I wish them the best.

Again, this is just how one fan feels. I know the coaching staff does not care how I feel and that’s okay.

Go Utes!!!

[The Miami Ute]

You should be very concerned by the fact that there are only four teams in the FBS that have worse offenses than Utah. And, given Utah’s brutal schedule the rest of the season, it wouldn’t surprise me to see them closer to the bottom by the end of the season. Who would have ever predicted that before the season?

[EagleMountainUte]

With Jackson and Bernard this season truly is unprecedented with injuries. Utah’s luck was all used up on falling into the Ccg last season I guess.

[The Miami Ute]

Very possible.

[Anfernee]

Sooooooooo, about playing against Cal…..🤷

[Utah5410]

It isn’t just Whit. Its CR also. Whit is a no – nonsense coach. He has been the most consistent force in all of my years watching football. He is the same. He has adapted to NIL and transfers and the way college football is going. But his mannerisms are the same. Do you think that if Whitt knew that the decision was going to come down to CR surgeon or that he would have gone along with this ? My Guess is Cam didn’t tell him anything. And Whitt did what he always has done relied on his medical staff. Who cleared CR two weeks ago. Its that simple. CR is as much to blame as Whit.

That’s fine if CR doesn’t want to play until he’s ready but he should have mad known to Whit his intentions.

[RoboUte]

“Do you think that if Whitt knew that the decision was going to come down to CR surgeon or that he would have gone along with this ? My Guess is Cam didn’t tell him anything”

I indicated the same above but I’m really concerned that this is not only plausible, but almost feels like the simplest explanation.

I refuse to believe that any FBS football coach let alone one of the best doing it today opts not to even prepare a quarterback until week 6. Rose going down doesn’t even explain it because that happened preseason and we have been feeding reps to Cam and sticking Barnes and Johnson into bits of Cam’s offense for half of a season.

The only reason you act as our coaching staff has is if you imminently expect Cam to return. But we now know that this wasn’t even a possibility… I’m left with no other thought but that Cam was not forthcoming about his injury’s recovery timeline OR has not been forthcoming with Whitt these last 6 weeks, essentially stringing him along. The latter makes more sense and pretty much paints Cam as a dirtbag.

[The Miami Ute]

I’m old enough to have been an adult during Reagan’s presidency. One of his favorite sayings was “trust but verify.” There’s no way that a person as experienced in football as Whitt would have assumed that Cam would play during the 2023 season after suffering a triad injury in early January. Cam is not Steve Austin and there was no real way to “rebuild” him for the 2023 season.

So, there are really only two logical ways to play this:
1. Cam never told Whitt the extent of his injury. In this scenario, Cam just tells Whitt that he suffered an ACL tear, was on track to make a quick recovery, and left Whitt to fill in the blanks. Whitt thinks that Cam can play the majority of the season so he decides not to get a transfer QB from the portal. Still a risky proposition given the possibility of any setbacks in rehab but understandable.
2. Cam tells Whitt the full extent of his injury and prognosis for recuperation. After receiving this information, Whitt decides to not bring in a transfer QB from the portal and takes the chance of playing the entire season starting one or a series of unproven and untested QBs.

Most of the people on this blog have been watching Utah football for well more than a decade. Which of those two scenarios do you think are more likely? I’ll leave it at that.

[22Ute22]

Even if it was just an ACL tear, 7.5 months is (mid January to end of august) still nothing but wishful thinking, so it falls on Whitt regardless.

[Yergensen]

Nope, it’s on Whit. Buck stops with the head coach.

[RoboUte]

True. Even if you assume that he was misled about Cam’s injury it’s still absolutely idiotic to have no plan B. And it’s now clear that this was the case.

[ORute]

Not only plan B, but to have your QB1 (Rose) go full contact in practice right before the season. I mean, our D needed to practice by tackling our QB1? This just all seems bizarro

[gogotwo]

Even if it didn’t come down to CR surgeon, who in their right mind would think anyone would be ready after tearing their ACL, MCL, MCSL and meniscus in 8 months? I would question the competency of any medical staff if that was expectation being conveyed.

[Utah]

I have supported Whitt giving Rising every opportunity to play, as we desperately need him.

BUT, knowing what I know now, if I could turn back the clock, I’d institute Whitt’s new rule before the season started: If you aren’t going to play on Saturday, then no reps during the week.

Utah isn’t Rising’s training pad to prep for the NFL. Utah is here for Utah players. And if Rising isn’t ready to play on the upcoming game, that’s ok, but he needs to step aside and let the QB’s who will play get ready.

This is such a messed up situation.

We have:

A QB with a bad injury.
A group of docs who say he can play.
One doc who says he can’t.
And a coach who was under the impression that Rising would play as soon as Baylor.
And a QB who today said he is trying hard to play but won’t until his doc, apparently the best doc in the world, says he can play.

It just sucks and I wish Rising and his Doc were more transparent about what they are doing. It kind of feels like Rising knew he wouldn’t be ready, but didn’t want to get recruited over, so may not have been as transparent as he should have been, so when he was healthy he could step right into the starting job with no competition.

[ORute]

So Cam tore his ACL, MCL, MCSL and meniscus. This is major and frankly any frustration should now shift from ‘why isn’t he back by now’ to ‘he really shouldn’t be even practicing right now’. Forget soon or Kyle or whatever, he needs at least 12 months, anything less and he’s seriously jeopardizing reinjury. I had knee surgery, not this bad, but clearly this wasn’t some minor partial ACL tear. I’d be upset at staff if they are trying to push/rush him back, forget about misleading the fanbase. We’re not important, his physical health is–im glad it seems like his surgeon is holding him back and being the voice of reason. But I see no reason this info couldn’t be shared earlier–better than misleading everyone to believe he’s close to returning. I dont blame Cam in the least, staff knew the injury and dont appear to have acted in his best interest. Just rest up and do whats best for your health, your legend status as a Ute is cemented regardless.

[22Ute22]

1) This is all Whitt needed to say and fans would understand and leave the rumors alone.

2) This makes it that much more idiotic to not take a transfer QB. I thought given his timeline and how he reacted on the field, that he just tore his ACL. But tearing his ACL, meniscus, and MCL and NOT taking a transfer QB was idiotic from Whitt. I’m genuinely shocked anyone would disagree knowing what we know now, and I’m sure Whitt knew in January.

[Dallas]

He sounds very discouraged in that interview.

[DataUte]

Beginning of last year, I thought Cam and Brant would be playing their last year and this year we would let Rose, NJ, Barnes (unlikely) battle it out in a ‘reloading’ year. Didn’t think at any time we needed a transfer qb. We tried it with Bentley and Brewer and those were both busts.

Also expected Ja’Qiuden and Bernard (happy he came back from the portal) to be the top backs and Curry and Glover contributing.

Nothing has gone well. And with 2 knee injuries keeping Cam and Brant here, well, here we are. Obviously there was hope Cam could come back. I think the only problem I have is giving Cam any reps for game prep until he is either fully cleared or committed to play that week, even if it’s at personal risk and not 100%.

[RustyShackleford]

Well it’s quite clear from all the message board genius’ in here that Whitt should have just gone in the portal and got a super duper 10* superstar QB. You guys have no clue if we tried to get a portal QB or not. No good QB is going to come to Utah with notion that as soon as Cam comes back it’s his starting spot. Especially when they can go to a team and be the day1 starter without that. Also this transfer class was weak on QBs look at Florida and OSUs QB.

[The Miami Ute]

Well, let’s see…what do we know? Trying to keep it simple…we found out yesterday that our star QB suffered an injury on 1 January that normally requires a 12-18 month recovery period. If the coaching staff knew that, it should have been more than enough reason to go into the portal and get a QB seeing as though Utah’s roster was full of untried and untested QBs.

Instead, what happens? Well, nothing…we go into the season with what we have and now the crows are coming home to roost. If nothing happens, when the transfer portal is available, there are hundreds of players that use it on a yearly basis, you have a legitimate position need, and you’re a marquee team with a national brand, then it’s logical to think that the Utes didn’t attempt to go into the portal since there’s no one here.

There were well over 50 QBs that transferred from one school to another in 2023. Do you have that low of an opinion of Utah to think that the Utes couldn’t have been in play for a Spencer Sanders or a Cade McNamara or a Payton Thorne? Any of those guys are way better than anything we have right now and are playing for worse teams than Utah.

[utahwingman]

If the team keeps looking for QB from the portal, I’m sure it will be hard to convince any good HS QB to commit in the future. They all want to start ASAP and don’t want keep waiting behind some portal QB every year. Then fans will probably complain about we can’t get any good QB out of HS and our recruiting sucks.

Fans always look at football as results driven. Coaches don’t have that luxury and have to make decision based on the information they have available at the time (which is a lot more than we can gather from social media and message boards). We got Brewer before and we were all excited about having someone with experience to play….that didn’t turn out good.

With the transfer portal, I doubt any team can have a good backup QB unless he is a freshman. Any good QB is not going to stick around to be a backup and look for opportunities to start. Even Alabama can’t figure out who their QB should be and they are supposed to be all 4 and 5 stars players. It will be interesting to see at the end of the season, how many teams do well with a backup QB.

[The Miami Ute]

I’m not saying that the portal should be the default, though some schools (like USC) have been using it to great success. I do think that if you have a pressing need, as the Utes did this season at the QB position, it should definitely be considered. The alternative is to let the opposition get the upper hand on you. Remember, even Cam Rising is a transfer and the four best active QBs in the PAC (Williams, Penix, Nix, and Ward) all got to their respective schools via the portal.

[Tony (admin)]

I don’t think they thought they had a pressing need. Rose and NJ were supposed to be the shiz. And behind them we still had the pig farmer who we all thought was better than he really is.

[The Miami Ute]

That hasn’t aged well, has it?

[EagleMountainUte]

After the Rose Bowl I had see enough of Barnes to last me three lifetimes.

[The Miami Ute]

😆 🤣 😂…read this and almost wet the bed…

[RoboUte]

The personality types that refuse to see any wrong in certain authority figures are so funny. I kind of feel sorry for them tbh.

Let’s hear your flimsy rationalization for the the fact that we also didn’t prepare our backup QBs whatsoever.

[The Miami Ute]

That, to me, is one of the most bizarre manifestations of this situation. You have a guy that has an injury that will most likely keep him out the entirety of the season but yet he’s taking half the first team snaps (or more) at practice? How do you justify that? The only logical way is if you didn’t know the extent of his injury which opens up another completely different can of worms.

[22Ute22]

Myself and others have already shot down this ridiculous notion that QB rooms must be completely devoid of any resistance and competition, as well as the notion that you would sit a QB that is playing well, for a guy who has one properly functioning knee.

[Author]

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