Ute Nation Countdown to Kickoff: Cam Rising

As the University of Utah prepares for their first game of the 2019 season, the defense will be doing so by going up against a talented scout team quarterback: Texas transfer, Cam Rising.

In an ideal world, Rising would be preparing to battle it out for backup reps for this highly anticipated season. However, while the NCAA approved a former Utah quarterback's waiver because he got his feelings hurt—only to end up as Indiana’s third-stringer—they oddly chose not to approve Rising, even though Texas had dropped his desired major.

While it would have been great for him to see some game action, Rising will instead have an eye on next season, while he goes up against the fierce Utah defense on a weekly basis.

With Tyler Huntley set to graduate, barring an unforeseen circumstance, those reps should prove crucial for Rising, as he looks to battle with seasoned sophomore, Jason Shelley, to be the starting signal-caller in 2020.

Andrew Fronce’s take

Rising is an outstanding athlete with a big arm and good running ability. He throws a nice ball and looks the part of a star quarterback. However, it's hard to judge how well he's performing since we haven't been able to see him practice since the end of spring ball. He started out kind of slow in spring, but by the end of camp, he looked much more comfortable, and had a solid performance in the Red/White game, going 8/10 for 77 yards and a touchdown.

It's a shame that Rising wasn't granted a transfer waiver this year, but next year he should be right in the thick of the battle for the starting job.

Alex remembers Risings recruitment

A former four-star recruit, Rising was rated as the no. 8 best pro-style quarterback and no. 149 overall ranked recruit in the class of 2018. He held 25 offers from the likes of Alabama, Miami, Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma (and was a one-time Sooners commit), Oregon, Penn State—basically, everyone wanted him.

Due to the Utes landing Jack Tuttle early on, they had no need and therefore didn’t pursue Cam, initially. When Rising entered the transfer portal, the Longhorns did everything they could to keep him, as they firmly believed he has NFL talent. However, Rising was off visiting Salt Lake City and falling in love with the place, before Texas could convince him otherwise.