Dissecting the QB room for the Utah Utes in 2024.
Utah Utes’ QB Depth Chart
Cam Rising
Cam Rising was a 4⭐️ in the composites with an overall rating of 90.68 for On3. He is 6’2” and weighs 220lbs. Rising was part of the 2018 recruiting class and initially committed to the University of Texas. He did not see any action in Austin as a redshirt and decided to transfer to the University of Utah in 2019, sitting out a year (when eligibility actually meant something) before playing for the Utah Utes.
In 2020 with the shortened COVID19 season, Rising saw action in one game (against USC). Rising would get hurt and miss the rest of the season.
In 2021, Rising was named the Utes’ backup QB. After the second game of the season, Rising was named the starter and would not relinquish the job. He finished the year completing 204 of his 320 passes for 2,493 yards and 20 touchdowns to 5 interceptions. He added an additional 499 yards on the ground and 6 touchdowns.
In 2022, Rising was named the starter and did not disappoint for the Utah Utes. He completed 249 of his 385 attempts for 3,034 passing yards with 26 touchdowns to 8 interceptions. He added 465 yards on the ground and another 6 touchdowns on the ground. His season ended in the Rose Bowl game where he tore his ACL.
Going into the 2023 season, there were question marks surrounding Rising and if he would be able to play. This song and dance went on for essentially two-thirds of the season, until Utah announced he would not return and would be granted a medical hardship exception. This allowed Rising an additional year of eligibility.
Rising will go into 2024 as a Super Senior. He will be the starter from the start of spring camp. He’ll be roughly 14-15 months removed from the ACL and barring any set back, should be full go by fall camp. The Utah Utes may decide to take it easy during spring camp, only having him throw and take part in limited activities. He is the unquestioned leader and starter for the program.
Isaac Wilson
Isaac Wilson was a 4⭐️ in the composites with an overall rating of 90.44 for On3. He is 5 ’11” and weighs 190lbs. Wilson is part of the incoming 2024 recruiting class. Wilson is the younger brother of Zach Wilson. We’ll cover Isaac extensively later on in the summer as he is one of our players we plan to highlight in our Devy Digest: Freshman Friday editions; but an extreme cliff notes on Wilson is he has scrambling mobility to move the chains, a good arm, and a decisive decision maker with good ball placement. Wilson can throw into tight windows and has the ability to layer his throws. Even with his frame, he isn’t afraid to climb the pocket.
It will be interesting to see how Wilson does at the collegiate level; whether he will choose to scramble to his right rather than climb the pocket. It’s one of many nuances we want to see at quarterback.
Wilson put up gaudy stats at Corner Canyon in Draper, Utah. He will be competing for that backup job as a True Freshman. The ideal pathway for Wilson (as he is the future for the Utes program) is to enroll early, take part in spring camp, and gain experience with those needed reps and learn under Cam Rising off the field.
Rising has been around since 2018, so it would be wise for Wilson to have Rising as a mentor. Having a year to sit and learn and get into the strength and conditioning program will only help Wilson. Wilson weighs sub-200lbs, so it would be nice if he were able to put on weight to take the hits in the Big 12 – and be ready to run the offense as a Redshirt Freshman in 2025.
Brendon Rose
Brendon Rose was a 3⭐️ in the composites with an overall rating of 87.58 for On3. He is 6 ‘2” and weighs 210lbs. Rose was part of the 2022 recruiting class. Brendon Rose attended Murrieta Valley High in California and wrapped up his high school career with 7,521 yards passing and 74 touchdowns while rushing for over 800 yards.
Rose did not see the field in 2022 and in 2023 when the Utah Utes had a rotation of quarterbacks. It wouldn’t have hurt for Rose to have live reps given how the season went, but perhaps he’s simply not ready to see live game action yet. Rose has three years of eligibility left and projects as more of a pocket-passer than a dual threat option.
Steven Smedley
Steven Smedley was an unranked prospect. He is 6’1” and weighs 185lbs. Smedley was part of the 2023 recruiting class. Smedley attended Oak Ridge High in Texas. I was not able to find conclusive stats for Smedley, so I won’t be posting them in this article.
Smedley is a dual-threat quarterback. He is in the mold of what the Utah Utes typically look for in their QB. Smedley did not see any action in 2023. I would suspect Smedley is more of a project and will need to add on a little weight to go with his frame.
Quarterback Battle
Cam Rising will be the starter for the Utah Utes this year. The true battle will be for the second string. The room has cleared out and the question will be who wins the backup job. It’s safe to say that Isaac Wilson should win that job – as he has the best all-around talent in that room. I also believe he is the future for the Utes. The question becomes, do they reach out in the portal at some point.
The portal opens back up after the spring games for a short amount of time. What Utah currently has on hand is Cam Rising and a bunch of quarterbacks who don’t have any experience. It does make one consider if Utah will bring in a veteran through the portal as insurance if Rising goes down. Someone that has some experience, is a Senior, and has been around to be an adequate back up. That’s the question Utes fans will have to think about.
We saw in 2023 where USC and Texas had their clear starter, with True Freshman waiting in the wings for the following year. In both cases, the Freshmen were the third-string, with an upperclassman as the QB2 for insurance.
Positional Outlook
The Utah Utes lost a plethora of bodies at the position as three quarterbacks transferred out. The Cam Rising situation wasn’t handled well last year; as it seemed unlikely he would be ready until November as his ACL happened in the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2023. It would have been unrealistic for him to be expected to play in September and October – but the coaching staff kept saying he’s week to week. This did a disservice to the quarterbacks that were taking actual reps everyday preparing for their game. We saw their QB room struggle; and with essentially the entire room transfering out, they didn’t take too kindly to how they were treated.
On the positive side, the Utah Utes do have a bright future at the position with Isaac Wilson. The succession plan would ideally be to sit Wilson this year and come in when they are blowing out an opponent. That way, Wilson can see live reps and use the entire offseason of 2025 to take over as the full-time starter. And, ideally, have him blossom into an NFL prospect.
For the short term in 2024, Ute fans will be excited to have Rising back at the position; leaning on him to make plays and will his team to victory. The offense is in flux right now with players moving on and moving out. The running back and wide receiver room will need to sort themselves out. Those will be two groups where we’ll have to see how camp battle plays out and who makes a name for themselves to the coaching staff.
Andy Pham
Andy is the creator of the Devy Digest. His passion is devy and C2C. Andy's Devy Diguest articles provide insightful, yet thoughtful commentary to give you a leg up on the devy prospects so you know how to approach your devy and C2C drafts. With The Devy Digest podcast, Andy provides episodes of interesting and exciting topics and when he invites guests, you get to be a fly on the wall, listening in on two people having a conversation where they give you a different perspective. Come, join the journey that is Andy's Devy Digest.