Utah QB Johnson Ready for His Opportunity
On Saturday against Weber State, the future is now for the University of Utah. Earlier this week, head coach Kyle Whittingham announced that freshman quarterback Nate Johnson will be QB2 going forward. With the return of Cam Rising still in question, Johnson is expected to receive his first collegiate start against the Wildcats.
That decision came to be after Johnson led Utah to a come-from-behind victory at Baylor. Given an opportunity with Utah struggling on offense, Johnson showed tremendous poise and an element of swagger that ignited the team’s confidence.
“With about 11 minutes in the game we made the decision to put Nate Johnson in and gave him an opportunity to show what he can do,” said Whittingham. “He took the entire drive and did a good job. I think it was a 15,16,17 play drive. Somewhere in there and consumed about nine minutes and got us on the board — in the end zone finally. We hadn’t gotten in the end zone at that point.”
Moving forward, Whittingham says everything has been taken into consideration in the decision to bump Nate to the QB2 position – based on “all factors” he and his staff have evaluated.
“It was based on a whole body of work we’ve seen,” said Whittingham. “Nate deserves the chance to be the starter if Cam is not available where we are at. That’s after a lot of evaluation and giving everybody the opportunity. We determined he deserves the opportunity to show what he can do. Nate was very poised on that last drive. He made outstanding decisions.”
According to Johnson, both Rising as well as Bryson Barnes gave him added confidence before taking over, last week.
“Cam and Bryson told me to go out there, be a leader and take guys home,” said Johnson. “Lead the team, be poised, be calm and to go out there and get the win.”
Considering the circumstances, preparation in practice for situations like this are exactly what he works on daily. Once he was given the opportunity to lead the team to the comeback victory, he was ready.
“We didn’t fly all the way to Texas to come down here and lose, so we just picked that energy up in the fourth quarter,” he said.
Against Weber State, Johnson will receive plenty of playing time to state his case as Rising’s
2024 heir apparent. Fans and the football program are eager to see his jaw-dropping style in extended action. However, Johnson is looking forward to displaying his other intangibles.
“Leadership, grit, just lead those guys to victory — especially being a quarterback,” Johnson said. “Everybody is looking up to you, everyone sees you as the leader. Cam Rising has been here quite a while and everyone looks up to him as ‘Captain Cam.’”
Everyone is eagerly awaiting the return of their proven leader, in Rising. On Saturday however, the “future” is now.