2024 CFB What Ifs: What if Utah QB Cam Rising never got hurt again?
Cam Rising left an undeniable impact on the Utah football program. Unfortunately, his body paid the price.
College football is a game of inches, split-second decisions and unpredictable twists that can alter the trajectory of an entire season. In this new offseason series, What Ifs, I’ll dive into the sliding door moments of the 2024 college football season—the plays, calls and decisions that could’ve changed everything.
I’ll explore how the alternate outcomes might have reshaped the College Football Playoff picture, conference standings, Heisman race and more.
What might have been? Let’s find out.
Quarterback Cam Rising has had an undeniable impact on the Utah Utes football program. The only thing longer than his list of accomplishments is his injury history.
During the 2020 season—his third as a college football player—Rising initially lost the quarterback job to Jake Bentley. Later in the season, however, he started against USC, where he completed 3/6 passes for 45 yards and an interception before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury.
In 2021, Rising lost the preseason quarterback battle to Charlie Brewer but was named a starter after just two games. He led the Utes to an 8-3 record and passed for almost 2,500 yards and 20 touchdowns, but exited the fourth quarter of the Rose Bowl against Ohio State after sustaining a concussion.
A year later, Rising had an even stronger season, finishing with over 3,000 passing yards and 26 touchdowns. It was a banner year for both Rising and the Utes, the pinnacle being a 47-24 throttling of USC and future number-one draft pick Caleb Williams in the Pac 12 Championship game. In the Rose Bowl, however, Rising got hurt again, this time tearing multiple ligaments in his knee in a loss to Penn State.
He missed the entire 2023 season with a medical redshirt.
Despite all the injuries, Rising and the Utah Utes football program hoped he would bounce back in 2024. Utah was a fan-favorite pick to compete for the Big 12 title and a lot of those hopes rested on Rising’s return.
But unfortunately for all involved, it was much of the same for the now seven-year signal-caller.
He returned this season as the starter but suffered a hand injury in Week 2 against Baylor in a game the Utes eeked out 23-12. He missed three weeks but was back for a showdown against eventual Big 12 champ Arizona State.
He didn’t look right against the Sun Devils, due in large part to the aforementioned hand injury. He had a really bad game in the 27-19 loss and finished with just 16 completions on 37 attempts and three interceptions.
To make matters worse, he suffered a lower leg injury in the loss and would miss the rest of the 2024 season.
With Rising out for the year, the Utes spiraled. After starting 4-2, even with Rising in and out of the lineup, Utah dropped five of its last six games and limped to 5-7 overall and 2-7 in the new-look Big 12.
What if Cam Rising hadn’t gotten hurt in 2024?
It’s difficult to say for certain, but I have a hard time thinking that if Cam Rising was healthy Utah would’ve missed a bowl game.
In his two injury-plagued years as a starter, Rising-led Utah teams went 8-3 and 10-3 and earned berths to back-to-back Rose Bowls. That’s a really big deal for a program like Utah.
Head coach Kyle Whittingham is a masterful coach and program builder. His teams hit hard, play harder and are a special breed of pain in the ass to play against. But even the best teams need competent and healthy quarterbacks, and Utah didn’t really have either of those over the past two seasons.
Whitingham deserves a medal for what his team did in 2023. Despite a rotating cast of quarterbacks, Utah patchworked together an 8-4 regular season record, with the only losses coming against four ranked teams in Oregon State, Oregon, Washington and Arizona.
In 2024, however, the Utes were just way too one-dimensional. Even that sack-of-hammers-style defense couldn’t even make up the difference. Utah had the 116th-ranked offense in the country and ranked in the high 90s in both rushing and passing offense. Grim stuff.
I feel fairly confident in saying that if Utah had a healthy Rising, they likely flip a few games in the other direction. Against Arizona, TCU and Houston, the Utes’ offense mustered just 14 points or fewer. That’s a low bar to clear with a healthy, experienced quarterback.
While this team might not have been a Big 12 title contender like we all thought, if Rising is healthy, this group likely hits seven or eight wins fairly comfortably.
How does Rising’s injury impact Utah in 2024 and beyond?
I’m not sure Cam Rising’s injury has a great impact on the future of Utah football.
Despite having a year of eligibility left, Rising will not be back with Utah in 2025. Instead, the Utes pivoted and poached former New Mexico quarterback Devon Dampier. Kyle Wittingham has also announced that he’ll be back for at least one more season.
I think the 2024 Cam Rising injuries will leave Utah fans with an overwhelming feeling of what if, more than anything else.
It’s a major bummer that Rising has been so hurt so frequently. Let’s hope he can find another way to leave a lasting impact on the sport of football if he so chooses.