Rising Retiring from Football

I am quite surprised not to see this posted, but I ran across an article from Chris Kamrani on The Athletic today that announced the news.

Under the bright lights of Allegiant Stadium last July, Cam Rising flashed his patented smile and laughed as the Utah quarterback was asked if he would consider ever triggering an eighth year of NCAA eligibility in 2025.

“Seven is good enough for me,” he said. “But you never know. The cards are always on the table.”

At Big 12 Conference Media Day in Las Vegas last summer, the Utes were hyped as the favorite of the newly restructured 16-team conference. They had Rising returning after missing nearly two years of football following a gruesome knee injury in the 2023 Rose Bowl, they had their seasoned head coach in Kyle Whittingham and a roster believed at the time to be among the best in the league.

But Rising, known as one of the most fearless quarterbacks in college who took on linebackers and safeties alike in the open field, would see yet another series of unfortunate events derail a promising season. After suffering hand and lower leg injuries last fall, the 25-year-old quarterback who led Utah to back-to-back Pac-12 titles in 2021 and 2022 announced Wednesday he was medically retiring from football.

“Due to a hand injury I suffered during the Baylor game, I’ve been advised by two orthopedic physicians that I will never be able to return to playing football,” Rising wrote in his posts on social media.

Rising said he will obtain a third opinion before undergoing surgery on his right hand that was injured in Utah’s Week 2 win over Baylor last year when he was shoved out of bounds and into a Gatorade station on the Baylor sideline. The injury forced him to miss the next three games. Rising returned to start Utah’s game at Arizona State, but he suffered a season-ending lower leg injury in the game. He played injured throughout the 27-19 loss to the Sun Devils.

The long and brutal road back from the injury suffered against Penn State in the Rose Bowl looked to be worth it in Utah’s season-opening 49-0 win over Southern Utah last fall. Rising started for the first time in 606 days and threw a career-high five touchdowns in one half. That elation was short-lived.

Rising suffered a major knee injury in the 2023 Rose Bowl, tearing his ACL, MCL, meniscus and MPFL, the ligament that stabilizes the kneecap. While Rising was rehabbing his injury in the fall of 2023, he faced mounting pressure from the Utah fan base, which wondered exactly where he was in his process of returning from the serious injury. That October, he gave The Athletic permission to speak to his surgeon, renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache, about the severity of his injury.

As he noted in his farewell note on social media, Rising now has to step away from the game he loves for good. Rising’s best statistical season came in 2022 when he earned All-Pac-12 honors for a second year in a row, throwing for 3,034 yards, 26 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He added another six rushing touchdowns.

Rising transferred to Utah from Texas in 2019 and won the starting quarterback job in the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season, but suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in the first quarter of Utah’s season-opener that fall against USC.

When healthy, Rising was respected by NFL scouts for his competitive nature and leadership qualities. The Athletic’s scouting expert Dane Brugler said prior to the 2024 season, Rising was projected by scouts to be a priority free agent in the draft process. Brugler added that had Rising recorded a highly productive senior season, he could be a late-round pick.

I was wondering if someone was going to beat me to this!

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The last 2 years were crazy with the QB situation, but I’ll always remember the highs Cam brought us.

He’s a winner, wish him the best.

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What a strange career he had. At his best, and when healthy, he was arguably the second-best quarterback in school history. Without him, Utah definitely doesn’t win to PAC-12 titles. I loved his heart and desire. On the other hand, his injury proneness and the uncertainty of whether he would play set Utah back a couple of years. Obviously, you can’t place a lot of blame on him for much of that. But I can’t help but think if he had retired after the 2023 Rose Bowl (or at least after the 2023 season), Utah would have gone 9-3 last season. If Rising is gone in 2024, Bryson Barnes likely stays (or Utah gets someone better). Barnes had his faults, but I am certain that he leads Utah to wins over TCU, Houston, BYU, and Iowa St. last season.

But I wish Cam well. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him back here someday as an assistant coach.

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Rising is probably the best “coordinator QB” we’ve ever had. That year he spent in the booth with Ludwig paid huge dividends when he got to the field because he got to see what Andy saw.

I will not be surprised if Cam decides to go down the coaching track and becomes one of the best. I hope he magically appears as a grad assistant this fall either here or somewhere not known as TDS.

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Additionally, if Cam becomes a coach it will not surprise me if he ends up having a “Andy Ludwig ruined watching football” story. :wink:

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The home win over USC was one of the great moments in Rice-Eccles history. Then he and the rest of the team followed it up with a blowout over the Trojans in Vegas.

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OC at his HS alma mater
https://www.dailynews.com/2025/05/07/newbury-park-football-brings-on-cam-rising-as-offensive-coordinator/

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With how many close games we had last year, I dont think its all that crazy to say that if Cam had stayed healthy, we could have gone unbeaten, but probably more in the 10-2 range. Yes, its one half of one game, but ill never forget how night and day different we looked against Baylor with and without Cam.

At any rate, whats done is done and hes a legend in my book. I wish him well in his new career.

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I don’t think it can be understated how much a healthy Cam Rising meant to this program. No one can question his heart and his talent. And I don’t think anyone can blame him for his bad luck with injuries. I think we can definitely quesiton the coaching staff for not having a good backup option and for stringing everybody along with the “Cam is a gametime decision” crap in 2023 and in between the Bayor and ASU games last year.

I do think a healthy Cam Rising leads Utah to a minimum of 10 regular-season wins in 2024.

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I think Cam staying healthy, along with Jackson not transferring would have been a huge difference. Had the Utes’ offense had those two players all season, I believe Utah would have won the B12 and probably been in the playoffs.

I hope Beck works out as OC but in reality Lugwig was the best OC Whit has had & one of the best OCs Utah has ever had. He can only do so much with an inexperienced QB and below average run game. OCs can’t do anything about the talent they are calling plays with.

Anyway, onward & upward. Hopefully this upcoming season doesn’t have any catastrophic injuries.

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One one thought comes to mind about Baylor now.

It starts with an “F” and ends in a “uck Baylor”

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Well a lot of that is his fault honestly.

His offense was overly complex.

If took quarterbacks 18-24 months to feel comfortable in it.

And even then, Ludwig refused to make adjustments based on the personnel he had.

The reports about his offense from multiple former players indicate he was a big part of the problem.

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Ludwig as an OC is a debatable topic, but this is a strong point.

More recently, the portal & NIL drove the point home, like an overzealous blocker who plays past the whistle and blocks his man off the field and out of the stadium.

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Pretty sure that you’re not alone among our fanbase, or others within the Big XII who have been around Baylor even longer than us.

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