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- Isaac Wilson has been named the starting quarterback for Utah's football team following Cam Rising's season-ending injury, marking a new phase for the team.
- The players held a meeting to rally behind Wilson, who has already shown promise with a 2-1 record as a starter.
- Offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig plans to focus on Wilson's strengths, building the team's strategy around his skill set and reducing the complexity of having to prepare for multiple quarterbacks, which was previously a challenge.
SALT LAKE CITY — The Isaac Wilson era at Utah officially began Monday.
In the immediate news that veteran signal caller Cam Rising had suffered another season-ending injury, the football team took the opportunity to rally around its new leader of the offense in a players-only meeting.
The meeting was a chance to regroup after back-to-back losses in which the offense failed to consistently score in the red zone. But more importantly, it was a chance to come together as a team and put their full support behind a freshman QB that is 2-1 as their starter.
"Yeah, it sucks," veteran tight end Brant Kuithe said of the situation. "Obviously, no one really thought that was gonna happen, but (expletive) happens. We kind of have to get behind (Rising) and support him however we can. And Isaac's up next, so we support him 100% and get behind him."
"We responded well," added running back Micah Bernard. "I mean, we responded the way we're supposed to: Get behind whoever is leading the charge on offense. It doesn't matter who it was, we're just gonna get behind them. In the team meeting we had, we were behind Isaac. And he came up there, he said a few words, and he got us motivated, so we better go out there this week and just put it on tape."
Wilson is the guy and the definitive QB1 — no questions asked.
That statement, alone, is a bit refreshing for a Utah offense that has been in limbo since Week 2 after Rising suffered an injury to his throwing hand that kept him out of three games. It's what Kuithe described as a "fresh start" for the team.
For the last month, the offense has been forced to prepare for two different quarterbacks, with no real direction on who will be under center that upcoming week — especially with Rising considered a "game-time decision" repeatedly. There were different plays for each quarterback, and some adjustments to the offense to help accommodate for each player's strength.
Offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig said there were various components in the offense to help "compensate for Cam's hand injury," like putting him in shotgun instead of under center to help with certain situations. Each presented an added variable to an already complex offensive system that often made it difficult to get a handle on everything.
But with a move to have Wilson go full time, there's no more in-between for the offense, which in some ways comes as a relief to players — from the quarterback to skills players to an offensive line working on various protections. It's also a way for it to be a "bit more of true Utah football," Ludwig said.
"I think it'll help a lot, just because we have different plays going in for different guys depending on who's gonna go in," Bernard said. "But now we ain't got to worry about that, because we know the game plan fully and what we're going to execute in that situation. I think it'll help us a lot just building around the guy we've got out at quarterback rather than building two different game plans."
"I think it's best for (Wilson), honestly, because in those weeks that we didn't know who was going to be starting, Isaac was kind of taking a good amount of the reps, and he didn't know if he was going to start," Kuithe said. "And I think for him ... knowing he's going to start, and preparing the right way, I think it'll help him a lot, and just know that we know who's going to be starting. It's going to be great. Just looking forward to seeing him play and step up."
For Kuithe, there's optimism that overall quarterback play will improve, too — especially for the bevy of pass catchers that expected to have a more wide open offense coming into the season.
"Honestly, I do think quarterback play, just in general, hasn't been amazing," he said. "Just kind of the back and forth and who's going to start, and all those different things, especially guys in the receiver room — obviously, we thought it was going to be a lot different than it's been going, but it is what it is.
"Isaac's up. We have six games left, so starting with TCU. ... We know the things that we need to do and kind of get ourselves back up and going. And so I'm just excited to see where this team can go."
All of that means Ludwig will be focused solely on Wilson and what he can do to help him improve, and "work to play to Isaac strengths and the team strengths moving forward."
Some of that will be working to help Wilson with the added pressure that he's experienced this season as a true freshman who has been handed the reins of the offense earlier than expected.
Teams are loading up the box in an effort to speed Wilson up. And it's Ludwig's job to help ease Wilson so that when the pressure comes, he's either mitigated it with the personnel in front of him or has provided a comfortable set of plays to help Wilson think quicker in the pocket.
But for Ludwig, it all starts with the ground game.
"Well, you've got to be committed to running the football, first and foremost, and then a little bit more extra protection for him, whether it's an extra tight end staying in protection," Ludwig said. "Play-action pass is a great equalizer for that, and we'll lean on all those components here moving forward. The screen game needs to be a big part of that, as well."
This season, Wilson has graded out higher in play-action play-calls (61.5 PFF), as well as one with a screen option (66.5) — though neither has been the majority of the play-calls Wilson has been assigned. The bulk of his time on the field has been in non-play-action situations (74.6%) and in non-screen passes (94.2%).
Additionally, Wilson has been far better when not pressured (61.8 PFF) versus when pressured (40.8), but has been relatively the same when blitzed (52.9) as to opposed to when he hasn't been (54.9).
"As he continues to grow and mature into the position, the book will continue to expand with his knowledge and his confidence level," Ludwig said. "It's his show, so we're going to let him roll with it."
Kuithe's best advice: "Just drop the freshman stuff and just be QB1; that's the biggest thing."
