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SALT LAKE CITY — As Cam Rising goes about his everyday life — a now complicated one amid a four week and counting recovery from an injury to his throwing hand — Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham maintains that his starting quarterback is close to a return.
But being close has become everything and nothing for a Utah football team anxiously awaiting the return of its star quarterback.
The problem is, Rising's expected return to the field continues to be a mystery.
"Since there is no mandate, why would you tip your hand in any way, shape or form with injuries," Whittingham said Monday, re-acknowledging his desire to keep injuries a private matter. "It doesn't make any sense to give the opponent any more knowledge than they have, and so that's the only reason.
"It's no other reason other than a competitive advantage — even though it might be just slight, it's still an advantage. The less they know, the more we know — that type of deal."
So everyone waits — well, kind of.
The longer Rising is absent from the field, the more frustrated an already agitated fan base becomes — to say nothing of Rising and his inner circle, and his teammates who were expecting the veteran QB to be under center.
But injuries take time to heal, and Whittingham and the medical staff that oversee the playing decisions want to see a fully healthy Rising before he's back on the field. It's a decision, Whittingham said, that is solely on the medical staff and is "without any other input."
"I mean, we're all following the recommendations," Whittingham said. "We — he — is following the recommendations, as well, from the doctors, and we'll see what happens this week. But there's a chance, I can tell you that. It's still early in the week, but we're crossing our fingers and hoping for the best, as is Cam. So we're just seeing how things play out."
However, that hasn't fully been in line with previous reports — even from Whittingham himself — that Rising has been a game-time decision each week since the team's road game in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Rising was seen before the game warming up with a glove on his throwing hand, and the expectation was that he would be the team's starter — or at least he would give it a try — against Oklahoma State, even taking the team's QB1 reps in the final warmup session before kickoff.
Instead, freshman Isaac Wilson trotted out onto the field as the team's starter under center.
Rising warmed up again with a glove on his hand ahead of Utah's home contest against Arizona, but stood by as Wilson took QB1 reps in the final warmup session, indicating a decision in favor of the freshman QB.
Following the game, Whittingham said Rising was "really close" to playing.
But on Monday, that tone seemed less optimistic and more in doubt, especially as Wilson took all the reps last week in practice, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.
Whittingham maintains that they'll go with the player that "gives you the best chance to win," and right now that's Wilson.
"Is an 80% Cam Rising more of an opportunity to win than 100% Isaac Wilson, and so that's a coach's decision, a coach's call," Whittingham said. "And you're not going to be right all the time, but that's the exact criteria we use. And first of all, you don't want to expose the kid to furthering the injury, but you wouldn't get clearance if that was the case."
Whittingham said there is a point in the season where they would just turn the starting job over to Isaac Wilson if Cam Rising wasn't available. Said he won't publicly say when that time would be, but there is a possibility that could be the case if Cam isn't ready.
— Josh Furlong (@JFurKSL) October 7, 2024
But he acknowledged, too, that the longer Rising is off the field, the more likely it becomes that a conversation could be had about sticking with Wilson for the remainder of the season to look to the future success of the program — a tricky situation that has no shortage of pitfalls.
"There is a point," Whittingham said. "I'm not going to pin ourselves down to an exact, specific time, but as things progress, and then also the conference race — where are you in the conference race? — there's some things that enter into it. But it certainly could come to that point, but we're not there yet."
So Wilson remains the starter ... until Rising actually trots back onto the field.
Whenever that is, though, remains the biggest mystery, and one that likely won't be made official until Rising actually starts a game.
In the meantime, the rampant speculation about the extent and severity of his injury, and his potential return to the field, continue to spread like a wildfire — similarly creating a destructive path until snuffed out.
