Tag: Cameron Rising

Florida ready for ‘all of the above’ with Utah QB situation unclear

Utah’s quarterback situation is a bit unclear less than a week away from the season opener against Florida, but the Gators will be ready.

For once, it’s not Florida with the quarterback controversy heading into Week 1 of the regular season. Instead, it’s the Gators’ season-opening opponent, Utah, that’s dealing with issues under center with less than a week until kickoff.

Utes quarterback Cameron Rising tore his ACL at the Rose Bowl in January and is still working his way back. Rising hasn’t fully participated in practice, but he’s working to be ready for the season. Further complicating things for Utah, backup quarterback Brandon Rose was injured during a scrimmage recently.

It’s very possible Utah is down its top two signal callers come Thursday evening.

“We’re preparing for all of the above,” Napier said when asked about Utah’s quarterback situation. “I do think they have very capable players. We got to see Cam live and in person. Certainly, we know Cam, his family, and have a ton of respect for him as a person, but (also as) a competitor, leader, football player; he’s a real quarterback. So, we’re doing all the homework we can.”

Behind Rising and Rose is Bryson Barnes, a former walk-on who has played in 13 games over the past three seasons, starting one of them. Florida’s defense would be at a huge advantage if Barnes drew the start, but Rising is going to do all he can to play.

“There’s really some unique players at quarterback that they have on the roster that cause you to really evaluate all the scenarios that could happen,” Napier continued. “I know our defensive staff has been working on that.”

Rising’s health will be the main focus over the next week. If he gets the start, there’s no guarantee he’ll finish the game.

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The most important QB names to know in the 2023 Pac-12 season

We previewed every team in the Pac-12, now it’s time to break down the positions.

Let’s start at QB, hands down the most star-studded position group out west.

As we continue our preview of the 2023 college football season in the Pac-12 conference, we are going to shift our focus from individual teams to individual positions. The last several weeks have been spent picking apart each school out west, finding where they improved the most over the offseason, and identifying what realistic expectations should be for them going forward.

You can see them all here: Arizona Wildcats — Arizona State Sun Devils — California Golden Bears — Colorado Buffaloes — Oregon State Beavers — Stanford Cardinal — UCLA Bruins — USC Trojans — Utah Utes — Washington Huskies — Washington State Cougars

Now we’re going to look at position groups as a whole in the conference. Whether it’s a quarterback or a linebacker, a punter or a safety, there are dozens of highly talented players out west. We want to go through them all, position group by position group, and highlight some of the most important names that fans should know at each spot. 

It all starts with the quarterback, and unless something abnormal takes place, it usually ends with the quarterback as well. The 2023 season in the Pac-12 is going to be defined by quarterback play, with some of the best passers in the nation getting set out west to try and end the conference drought in the College Football Playoff.

There are three sure-fire Heisman Trophy contenders, with a fourth or fifth hanging around the fringes. There are offensive masterminds scattered throughout the landscape ready to dial up shots down the field. There’s a chance that, in the final year of the Pac-12 as we know it, we are going to see a better display of quarterback play than we ever have before.

So who are the guys that you need to pay attention to and keep on your radar as we get set for fall camp to begin in a couple of weeks? Here’s who we are looking at:

Pac-12 Preview: Are Cam Rising and the Utes being overlooked in 2023?

Utah has won back-to-back Pac-12 championships, but I don’t think many people are picking them again in 2023. Is that a mistake?

As June starts to roll into July, and July eventually leads us to the start of fall camps at the beginning of August, the 2023 college football season will be here before we know it. What a season it projects to be in the Pac-12 Conference, as well. With a handful of College Football Playoff contenders, and a group of Heisman Trophy candidates leading their prospective teams, we could be set up for one of the best football seasons out west that we’ve seen in decades. To help get us prepared, we at Ducks Wire wanted to go through each team in the conference and give a comprehensive breakdown of each school, breaking down their 2023 outlook. Welcome to our Pac-12 Previews. New editions will be published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday leading up to the start of fall camp. 

Check out our previously published previews: Arizona Wildcats — Arizona State Sun Devils — California Golden Bears — Colorado Buffaloes — Oregon State Beavers — Stanford Cardinal — UCLA Bruins — USC Trojans

If you were to ask any semi-knowledgable fan of college football this offseason who the teams to focus on in the Pac-12 were, you’d likely get the same three answers: USC, Oregon, and Washington.

None of those teams are coming off back-to-back Pac-12 championship victories and a pair of Rose Bowl appearances in the last two years. None of those teams arguably have the best single coach in the conference.

The Utah Utes do, though. So why are we not talking about them more?

It’s not as if quarterback Cameron Rising took off for the NFL this offseason. Like Bo Nix and Michael Penix, he also chose to return for one last ride at this level and will look to go out on top. Sure, Rising is coming off of a knee injury, and it’s not a guarantee that he is 100% healthy by the first week of the season, but he’s still the dynamic gun-slinger that we’ve seen dominate the conference over the past two years.

Is there a world in which we see that dominance span three years? It’s incredibly possible. Here’s our full 2023 season breakdown of the Utah Utes.

Ranking the Pac-12 QBs through Week 7: Maybe winning does matter after all

The Pac-12 quarterback rankings may finally have stabilized after a couple of huge upsets in the conference.

In last week’s Pac-12 quarterback rankings, we questioned whether actually winning games had an effect on the Pro Football Focus numbers because it didn’t seem so. Dorian Thompson-Robinson had won a huge game for UCLA, but his numbers and overall ranking didn’t adjust all that much.

Although the rankings themselves, according to PFF haven’t changed all that much, the numbers for each quarterback may have been properly skewed into a more realistic spot.

One would think a couple of fairly big upsets, such as Stanford defeating Notre Dame and Utah over USC, would throw everything out of whack, but as Lee Corso will say, “Not so fast my friend!”

We also have a new member of the group. Oregon State’s Ben Gulbranson makes an appearance after his second full week at the helm of the Beaver offense. We’re not sure when Chance Nolan will return, so he’s out of the rankings for now.

See Utah’s gutsy 2-point conversion late vs. USC that helped deliver Trojans’ first loss

Cameron Rising came up big for Utah.

Utah quarterback Cameron Rising is the kind of player you want to have the ball when the game is on the line. And it worked out perfectly Saturday night when No. 20 Utah dealt No. 7 USC its first loss of the season.

Down by seven, Utah opened its final drive in the home game with more than six minutes left on the clock. Plenty of time to find the end zone and tie it up.

Rising and tight end Dalton Kincaid not only led their team marching up the field, but they also helped eat up most of the clock before Rising ran for a one-yard touchdown on 4th-and-goal with just 48 seconds left.

But instead of tying it with the easy extra point, Utah coach Kyle Whittingham opted for the two-point conversion and the lead — or a disastrously embarrassing ending if it failed — showing just how much confidence he has in his quarterback.

Sure enough, Rising ran it in for the two-point conversion, giving Utah — which was down 21-7 at one point and looking poised for its third loss of the year — a 43-42 lead and ultimately the victory, spoiling the Trojans’ once-perfect season.

Rising looked to throw it initially before spotting a hole up the middle and cruising into the end zone for the two points.

Utah was able to keep USC from scoring in the final seconds of the game and held on for the one-point victory. And especially on a day when Utah was honoring two late players, Aaron Lowe and Ty Jordan, this win in front of the home crowd was particularly special.

Afterward, Whittingham simply said about Rising on the two-point conversion: “He’s a playmaker. He gets it done.”

Rising completed 30-of-44 passes for 415 yards and two touchdowns while adding 60 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns to his stat line.

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Ranking the 12 best players in the Pac-12 going into the 2022 football season

Who is the best player in the Pac-12? Will our answer change after the 2022 season is over?

This should go well, shouldn’t it…?

While we are entrenched in the offseason and waiting for the summer months to pass by and bring football to our doorsteps, the previews for everyone’s respective years have been coming in hot. While we’ve looked at which teams in the Pac-12 have the best quarterbacks or the best running backs, we wanted to take a bigger scope of things now and determine who the overall best players in the conference are.

What could go wrong?

Of course, this is a subjective list based on past stats with a touch of future expectations thrown on as well. These are the 12 players who I think are the best in the Pac-12 heading into the 2022 season, with a few honorable mentions thrown in there for good measure.

A physical Utah offense will try to bully the Ducks down the field

Oregon’s defense will have their hands full with a big Utah offensive line that will try to push their weight around.

This will be the biggest offensive line the Oregon Ducks defense will have to deal with all year. Utah took a page out of Stanford’s playbook from a decade before with a huge line to literally push the opponent down the field and score.

The Utes line consists of left tackle Bamidele Olaseni (6-foot-8, 330 pounds), left guard Keaton Bills (6-foot-4, 313 pounds), center Nick Ford (6-foot-5, 317 pounds), right guard Sataoa Laumea (6-foot-4, 304 pounds), and right tackle Braeden Daniels (6-foot-4, 300 pounds). All of their backups, except one, also weigh over 300 pounds.

With that kind of size along the offensive line, the Utes are able to gain an average of 214 yards per game on the ground, which is third in the conference only behind Oregon State (228.7 ypg) and Oregon (227.4).

The beneficiary of those running holes is tailback Tavion Thomas with his 82 yards per game and he has a conference-leading 14 touchdowns. But Thomas isn’t the only running back the Ducks have to worry about.

TJ Pledger averages just over 50 yards a game and has scored five touchdowns and Micah Bernard gains another 42 yards per contest.

So while the Utes running game will be a handful for the Ducks, the same can be true going the other way. Utah is going to have to deal with an Oregon front seven that is much more than the Kayvon Thibodeaux Show. But according to the Ducks defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter, having what he thinks is the best defensive player in college football in that group of seven doesn’t hurt either.

“He disrupts a game … it’s just rare to compare him to anybody,” he said of Thibodeaux. “You have to take him into account. He’s equally effective in the run game as he is in the pass game. People are going to try to screen him and get him to run sideways and he’ll chase things down from the backside. We’re obviously a much better defense when he’s on the field.”

One of those things Thibodeaux and the rest of the Duck defense will have to chase is Utah quarterback Cameron Rising. The 6-foot-2, 220-pound sophomore has started the last six games and Ute fans have to be wondering why he wasn’t the starter from Day 1.

Rising is completing 63.5 percent of his passes with 14 touchdowns and just two interceptions. Like Anthony Brown, Rising likes to spread the wealth among his receivers. Eight different players have 10 or more catches this season with tight end Brant Kuithe leading the way with 30 catches and five touchdowns.

DeRuyter says it all starts with that power running game.

“They’re a very physical running team. Their passing game is primarily spun off of their run game,” he said. “They’re a power, downhill football team. Ever since they put Rising in at quarterback, they’ve really been productive. Our hands will definitely be full.”

This will most likely be the first of two games between these two teams as Utah and Oregon are expected to meet in the Pac-12 title game in Las Vegas in just over two weeks.

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Alamo Bowl Provides Homecoming For Former Texas Quarterback

Cameron Rising entered the transfer portal in January, he is now eligible to face his former team the Texas Longhorns.

The Texas Longhorns and Utah Utes will face off on December 31st. To the casual observer, it is just another game but when looking beneath the surface, there are quite a few storylines between these two schools. Following the announcement of the bowl matchup the two teams took to battle on the recruiting front.

Prior to Early National Signing Day the Utes were able to flip three-star commit Ty Jordan to Utah as well as four-star defensive end Van Fillinger. The Longhorns were able to exact a bit of revenge when they flipped Lone Star linebacker Jaylon Ford to Texas keeping him in the Lone Star State. The storylines don’t stop there, this upcoming game is a homecoming for former Texas quarterback Cameron Rising.

During the 2018 recruitment, the Longhorns landed four-star quarterback out of California Rising. Cameron Rising was a recruit that Texas was able to flip from Oklahoma. Another victory in the Red River Rivalry. However, after never appearing in a game for Texas and never “Rising” above third on the depth chart, he announced that he would enter the transfer portal in January. Cameron announced that he would head to Utah.

Due to NCAA rules, Rising would have to sit out and could return to playing football in 2020. Since the semester is over, Rising is now eligible to participate in the game against Texas. While Rising has stated that this is “just another football game”, it feels like he desperately wants to get this win.

Texas will look to spoil the homecoming on Tuesday night in the Alamodome.