Entering the 2024 season, Utah football looked to be set at the quarterback position for the present and the future. With Cam Rising returning for another year after being granted a medical redshirt and highly touted recruit Isaac Wilson coming in, the Utes were in a prime position to continue their historic tradition of great quarterbacks.
The ideal scenario for the Utes was to have Wilson sit and learn behind Rising for the entire year and showcase the talented freshman starting in 2025. Obviously, due to unforeseen circumstances, Wilson was thrown into the fire early for a 2024 Utah team that was widely regarded as the best team in the Big 12.
With the lack of experience that Wilson had in the Andy Ludwig system coming in, the first few games saw plenty of growing pains. Despite some freshman mistakes that derailed the offense at times, Wilson became more and more comfortable each week and looked poised to take over the team for the remainder of the year.
Coming off the bye week and heading into a hostile environment at Arizona State, however, Rising was deemed healthy enough to play coming off of a hand injury that had sidelined him for a month. Early on in the outing, Rising took an awkward fall, bending backwards and putting an extraordinary amount of weight on his right leg, subsequently limiting his mobility. Rising would finish out the game, but after further tests, was ruled out for the remainder of the season on Monday afternoon. The first half of the season saw speculation each week about who would be the starter for Utah, but with another injury to Rising, it is now time for Wilson to take over at the helm of the offense.
What We’ve Seen
Through five games this season, Wilson has shown the ability to hit tight windows and make plays with his legs, but he has struggled mightily taking care of the ball. With 830 yards, 6 passing touchdowns and 7 interceptions, Wilson will need to acclimate himself to the offense in order to reach his very high ceiling.
At just 18 years old, Wilson has done an incredible job controlling the offense and keeping Utah competitive in every game this year, but it is evident that he is going to need some time to adjust to the speed of collegiate football. Coming in and starting as a true freshman less than a year removed from high school football is unbelievably difficult, especially considering Wilson was unaware if he was going to start or not going into the first couple weeks of the year.
Now that Wilson has been named the starter and knows that he has been given the keys to the offense, the rest of the season should look much more polished than the previous few starts.
What to Expect
The final six games of the regular season see Utah facing two teams ranked in the top 15 and a road matchup versus a very solid Colorado team. Wilson will have his hands full with some talented defensives down the stretch, but these experiences should be massive for his progression headed into next season.
Although Wilson is young, he still has multiple starts under his belt, and that should be a huge confidence booster, especially considering the offense will now be geared to his specific skill set. I expect to see massive leaps in Wilson’s ability to read defenses as he becomes acclimated to the offense, and that will eventually translate to this offense coming together.
Expect Ludwig to open up the playbook specifically in the red zone now that Utah has lost twice and is playing with not much to lose. The free-flowing offense that Utah is used to playing over the years has been nonexistent this year with the constant changes in personnel, but I expect things to start coming together as Wilson gains confidence.
Outlook
Despite the injury struggles over the past two seasons, Rising has taken this program to new heights, winning back-to-back Pac-12 championships and solidifying himself as one of the all-time Utah greats. Unfortunately for the Utah faithful, they did not get to see Rising finish his final season for the Utes, but the memories he provided in the past have all but made up for it.
Rising deserves all of the praise and respect in the world for what he has done for this program, and I am sure throughout the remainder of this season, he will get Wilson prepared to take over and continue the tradition of greatness here at Utah.
