The way the last few weeks have gone, it's easy to wonder if we've all jumped into a time machine that's transported us back to 2023.
As Utah enters the heart of the 2024 season, star quarterback Cam Rising is back on the sidelines again, this time with a finger injury that has kept him out for 3.5 of Utah's five games this season. Ahead of the Oklahoma State game, ESPN's Pete Thamel reported that Rising had a dislocated finger on his throwing hand, in addition to stitches to sew up a laceration, which were removed prior to Utah's game in Stillwater.
On Tuesday, during an autograph signing, Rising was seen with a finger brace or splint on his middle and ring fingers, though he obviously doesn't wear that splint while throwing.
Coach Kyle Whittingham hasn't provided a lot of information about the injury, just like last year. In 2023, Rising took matters into his own hands, detailing the full extent of his devastating injury that basically tore everything there is to tear in his knee — ACL, meniscus, MPFL and MCL — in an ESPN 700 radio interview.
The lack of publicly available information from the team surrounding Rising's finger injury he suffered in Week 2 against Baylor has led some fans to question the veteran quarterback's toughness, and whether or not Rising is the one making the call to sit out to continue healing.
One fan even showed up to Saturday's game with a "missing" sign with the quarterback's picture and identifiable qualities on the poster.
There's been a lot of opaqueness throughout this entire process, but the one thing that has been crystal clear is this — Rising wants to play. Indications are that coaches made the decision to start true freshman Isaac Wilson over a less-than-healthy Rising in the last two games at Oklahoma State and vs. Arizona.
"Cam Rising wants to play worse than anybody and when he's able to, he will. It's not like he's been just able to play and not going, I mean, that's not the case," Whittingham said on Tuesday.
"I'm not sure what you mean when you say he's taking heat. I haven't been around social media, I don't know anything that's going on out there. So I don't know where that's coming from, but I can tell you for certain that he wants to play, and as soon as he gets the go-ahead he will play, and we hope it's this next game."
As to the last part of that quote, it's unclear whether the "go-ahead" is from the medical staff or Utah's coaching staff. On Sept. 23, after the Oklahoma State win, Whittingham said that "he was cleared for last week as far as just, yeah, you can use him, but just up to you guys what decision you make. So I think we're past that point where you have to worry about reinjury or anything like that. Hopefully. Knock on wood."
Here's what we know: On Sept. 7, Rising was pushed out of bounds and into a large table that held Baylor's Gatorade coolers by Baylor defensive lineman Trevan Ma'ae. Rising immediately grabbed at his throwing hand, and then went to the medical tent, then the locker room for further evaluation and testing on his right hand.
He would later return to Utah's sideline in street clothes with his middle and ring fingers taped together.
It was never likely that Rising was going to play against Utah State — it was too soon after the injury, and the Utes could beat the Aggies with Wilson — but attention soon turned towards Rising's status for Oklahoma State.
The early indications were that Rising could play in that game — after the USU win, Whittingham said "the plan" was to have Rising back for OSU — and practice reflected that, with the senior getting the bulk of the first-team reps early on in the week. But as the week went on, issues crept back up with Rising — namely the ability to deliver the ball with enough velocity.
The ring finger is incredibly vital in throwing a football, and Rising wasn't able to throw the ball to the coaching staff's liking, so the Utes shifted to give Wilson the majority of the reps in the latter half of the week heading into the OSU game.
On game day, Rising warmed up, but during final warmups, the "zip" on the ball wasn't there, and coaches made the decision to start Wilson instead of a less-than-healthy Rising about 20 minutes prior to the game.
Against Arizona last week, the decision to play Wilson over Rising was seemingly reached much earlier. By the time that Utah came out for its final warmups on Saturday night, it was Wilson taking first-team reps and Brandon Rose taking second-team reps, with Rising throwing the ball considerably less than those two.
In each of the last three weeks, Rising has taken the field in full uniform — wearing a glove on his throwing hand and his usual knee brace — and warmed up. He's even participated in the coin toss, only for Wilson to come in on the Utes' first offensive series.
Whether it was truly a game-time decision for Rising against Arizona, or Whittingham wanting to keep the Wildcats guessing who was going to suit up at quarterback, it didn't matter. The Wildcats handed Utah its first loss of the season, and mostly shut down Wilson and the Utes' offense in the second half.
That begs the question — how much does obfuscating injury information truly help a team?
Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said that his team was preparing for both quarterbacks, but mostly Wilson. Arizona certainly wasn't surprised when Utah rolled Wilson out there on Saturday. At most, maybe a team spends a little more time during the week preparing for both Rising and Wilson, but it hasn't seemed to be a distinct advantage for Utah.
The lack of transparency about injuries has frustrated parts of Utah's fanbase, too.
Over his 20-year career at the helm of Utah's football program, Whittingham has been cagey with injury updates. Though he provides occasional nuggets, the rule is that he won't provide any information outside of injuries that are season-ending.
"We don't give any injury updates unless they're season-ending, so we won't say who's going to play quarterback, even when we know," Whittingham said.
Here's the thing: it's not Whittingham's job to make sure the fanbase — or the media, for that matter — has any information on injuries. It's his job to win, and he must believe that not being fully transparent and specific on injuries gives Utah an advantage — or at least that being fully open would put his program at a disadvantage.
"Until it's mandatory, why would you take it? It just doesn't make any sense. You got to do everything you can do to get competitive advantages and giving an injury report that doesn't have to be given, why would you tell your opponent that?" Whittingham said last year.
Injury reports are already mandatory in the Big Ten and SEC, and one would have to imagine that they will be coming to the Big 12 sooner rather than later. Until that day comes, however, Whittingham doesn't have to provide any injury specifics at all — and for the most part, he won't.
While it seems like Rising will try to play against Arizona State in a little less than two weeks, there's no certainty until he's actually taking snaps in a live game.
"Really close. Really close," Whittingham said Saturday when asked if Rising was close to playing. "So if there is a silver lining here, we've got a week off and hopefully he's ready to go by then."
Amid everything, there's one thing that's clear. While Wilson has helped Utah to two wins — and has been serviceable, if not good, as a true freshman in a tough situation — for the Utes to accomplish their preseason goal of winning the Big 12, it needs Rising.
Utah starts the seven-game charge down the stretch next Friday in Tempe. If Rising is not back then, then the road to Arlington for the conference title game — which is already considerably narrower after the Utes dropped last week's game — becomes that much tougher.
"He's one of the best quarterbacks in the country. It's a quarterback-driven game. It's the most important position on the field, it's not even close, and so if you got an elite quarterback like Cam Rising, yeah that definitely helps to get him back on the field and give us a big boost," Whittingham said.
