Florida fans have closely monitored the health of Utah’s starting quarterback Cam Rising ahead of the season opener between the two teams on Aug. 31, but now the injury status of another Utes quarterback may be of note to Gators fans.
Redshirt freshman Brandon Rose suffered an injury during the team’s scrimmage on Saturday, which required an apparent trip to the hospital. Josh Furlong of KSL Sports posted on X (formerly Twitter) a screenshot of an update on Rose’s Instagram stating he was “released and is home now”
First, injury isn’t something to celebrate, especially at the college level. Athletes work their entire lives to get to this point and many are hoping to continue their careers in the NFL, such as Rising. At the same time, it’s natural for teams to alter the game plan if they know the opponent is down a key member.
Rising had ACL surgery after tearing the ligament during the Rose Bowl in January and is pushing to get healthy by Week 1. Time is ticking, though, and Rose was a candidate to take over the starting job if Rising can’t go. If Rose is also out for an extended period of time, Utah may be forced to start fourth-year Bryson Barnes.
Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said that his policy is to not provide individual injury updates, aside from Rising, according to KSL Sports. He pointed to the natural physicality of a fall training camp before talking about the healthy quarterbacks.
“Bryson Barnes is taking the majority of reps with the ones,” Whittingham said. “Nate Johnson is taking the majority of the reps with the twos. When Cam is at practice, which is, not every day, but most every day. He gets a fair share of the ones in certain drills as well.”
Florida’s defense will fare better if it doesn’t have to deal with Rising, and the talent level should drop off the further down in the depth chart Utah goes.
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