SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 Sports) - Cam Rising's return to the field lasted all of one game.
Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham announced on Monday that Rising is out for the season after suffering a lower leg injury on the first series in Friday's 27-19 loss at Arizona State.
Whittingham said at his weekly press conference that Rising would be "out indefinitely," but released an update later in the evening.
“Upon further evaluation by our medical staff, Cameron Rising’s injury has unfortunately been deemed season-ending," Whittingham said in a statement. "During his time at Utah, Cam has been both a great player and leader for our program, and he will obviously be missed. Any future developments concerning his collegiate eligibility will be addressed at a later date.”
Rising could in fact return for an eighth college football season with a medical waiver, but at Big-12 Media Days back in July, Rising said that was unlikely.
"That's not the plan," Rising said in July. "Never say never, but seven years is more than enough."
“Now that we’re in the situation that we’re in, that’s a possibility,” Whittingham said. “We’ll have to explore that in detail with the compliance department. And I’m not even sure Cam would be interested in going that route. But, that would be something we’re talking about sooner rather than later.”
Rising, who missed the previous three and a half games with injured fingers, got his leg rolled up on by an Arizona State defensive lineman. Rising, who finished the game and threw three interceptions, was extremely limited in his mobility.
Freshman Isaac Wilson, who started three games in Rising's absence, takes over the starting quarterback job likely for the rest of the season. After practice on Monday, the team expressed its support for Wilson.
"I think it's best for him, honestly, because in those weeks that we didn't know who was going to be starting Isaac didn't know if he was going to start," said tight end Brant Kuithe. "I think for him, knowing that he's going to kind of go into each week game mode, knowing he's going to start and preparing the right way, I think it will help him a lot."
"It will help a lot," added running back Micah Bernard. "Now we know the game plan fully and what we're going to execute in that situation. So I think it help us a lot, building around the guy we got at a quarterback rather than building two different game plans."
If Rising's tenure at Utah is indeed over, he will go down as one of the more successful quarterbacks in school history. Rising led the Utes to back-to-back Pac-12 Conference championships in the 2021 and 2022 seasons. He did get injured in both Rose Bowl losses against Ohio State and Penn State.
This season, Rising threw for 555 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions. For his career, Rising threw for 6,127 yards, 53 touchdowns and 17 interceptions.
Branden Rose will serve as Utah's backup quarterback behind Wilson.
Utah next hosts TCU Saturday night at 8:30 p.m.