The boys are running it back. The University of Utah will be looking to do what Stanford and Oregon failed to do before them: win three consecutive Pac-12 Championship games. They look to accomplish this with Cam Rising, Brant Kuithe, Devaughn Vele and Thomas Yassmin all looking to complete the trilogy.

Cam Rising

Rising’s return comes with a bit of mystery left to it, as he was injured at the start of the third quarter in the 2023 Rose Bowl. A healthy Rising will have an opportunity to break numerous Utah quarterback career records.

He’s already cemented his status as one of the most valuable Utes of all-time. Now, he’ll look to further that legacy.

Rising: 79.1 PFF rating this year. 84.7 PFF rating last year (his best year). Stats from the past 2 years: 453/705 passing (64.2%) for 5527 yards (7.8 ypa) with 46 TD and 13 INT.

Brant Kuithe

Like Rising, Kuithe will have an opportunity to break multiple Utah career records in 2023, as he looks to cement his status as the best receiving threat ever at Utah. His season was cut short due to a leg injury suffered in the fourth game of the season.

He’s expected to be ready to go once the season rolls around.

Kuithe: 67.5 PFF rating this year, 84.1 rating in 2019 (his best year). For his career, he has 148 catches on 214 targets (69.2%) for 1,882 yards (12.7 ypc) with 16 TD and 16 drops.

Devaughn Vele

The leader of Utah’s receivers group, Vele has eye-popping measurables and a ridiculously good catch radius. He initially considered leaving early due to his age. He was only a sophomore this last year, but he served a LDS mission, redshirted, and had the Covid year.

With him returning, the race could be on to see if he or Kuithe can be Utah's first 1,000 yard receiver in over a decade when Dres Anderson had 1,002 in 2013.

Vele: 70.1 PFF rating this year (his best year). Stats from the past 2 years: 78 catches on 138 targets (56.5%) for 1084 yards (13.9 ypc) with 6 TD and 6 drops.

Thomas Yassmin

A man of mystery with jaw-dropping flashes of potential, Yassmin has been at Utah since 2019, but he was buried behind two of the best tight ends in college football: Kuithe and Dalton Kincaid.

With only one catch to his name before the 2022 season, there were rumblings that he could start on most other Pac-12 teams. When he finally got his opportunity due to injuries, he made it immediately known that he was an opponent’s nightmare.

The YAC-man had chunk-play touchdowns of 72, 60, 41 and 30 yards. After initially flirting with the idea of going back home to play Australian Rules Football, the increase in playing sold him on coming back to have a whole year as a featured guy.

Yassmin: 64.0 PFF rating this year (his best year). Stats from this year only: 13 catches on 21 targets (69.9%) for 301 yards (22.7 ypc) with 6 TD and 2 drops.

Weeks after signing a Top 20 recruiting class, the Utes are reminding the Pac and the College Football world that they’re still the leaders of the Pac. With Rising, Kuithe, Vele, and Yassmin back in the fold, their Pac-12 opponents have been put on notice.