Despite entering college as a freshman in 2018, Utah quarterback Cameron Rising has amazingly played in just 29 games total. And it’s not for a lack of trying to get more snaps.
The now 25-year-old from Ventura, California has suffered some absolutely brutal injury luck, even for a sport as dangerous as college football. All of that would be tragic enough on its own, but it’s even worse knowing how incredible the quarterback is when he’s able to play at full strength.
Rising was named First-Team All-Pac-12 in 2021, won the Pac-12 Championship MVP in 2022 and took Utah to back-to-back Rose Bowl games during that stretch.
Now, just as he was back starting for Utah in 2024 and trying to make his injury problems a thing of the past — something that hasn’t been particularly easy — a new injury has struck. Here’s a look at Rising’s wild ride through his time in the NCAA:
- 2018: Freshman redshirt year at Texas.
- 2019: Transfer redshirt year at Utah.
- 2020: 14 plays into the season-opener against No. 20 USC, Rising suffers a season-ending shoulder injury.
- 2021: Rising loses the starting job out of camp to Charlie Brewer, but returns as QB1 after two games to finish the season with 2,493 yards, 20 touchdowns and five interceptions passing. Rising exited a Rose Bowl loss to Ohio State after sustaining a concussion in the fourth quarter.
- 2022: Rising returns as starter and puts up a career-best 2,939 yards and 25 touchdowns passing, but gets hurt once again in the Rose Bowl, this time tearing multiple ligaments in his knee in a loss to Penn State.
- 2023: Medical redshirt
- 2024: Rising returns as starter for Utah but suffers a hand injury in Week 2 against Baylor, keeping him out for three weeks.
- 2024: Rising returns in Week 7 but suffers a lower-leg injury, ruling him out indefinitely.
Rising is one of the most electric quarterbacks in college football and it’s a true shame we haven’t gotten to see more of him.
Here’s hoping Rising can return soon and stay healthy moving forward.
