True freshman Isaac Wilson looks to be the spark for Utah to make a late-season push in Big 12

The Utah Utes faced some major news this week, as head coach Kyle Whittington announced that starting quarterback Cam Rising will be out indefinitely, leading true freshman Isaac Wilson back into the No. 1 role.

“Isaac Wilson will be our starter until further notice — that way we don’t have to address that each time we talk,” Whittingham said earlier this week. “I can’t give you a timeline [on Cam Rising’s injury]. It could be the rest of the season. I’m not sure how exactly long it will be, but I know it’s going to be a minute.”

Rising, a seventh-year senior, has dealt with numerous injuries this year, as he missed three games with a hand injury before suffering a lower-leg injury against the Arizona State Sun Devils this past weekend, where he was clearly hampered.

As a result, the senior threw for just 209 yards and three interceptions on 16 of 37 passing in an ugly outing, as Utah lost 27-19 to fall to 4-2 on the year.

With the injury, the Utes will turn back to true freshman Isaac Wilson, the brother of former No. 2 NFL Draft pick Zach Wilson. The freshman has seen action in five games already this year.

Wilson, a top-300 recruit in the Class of 2024, stayed in-state and has now gone from learning the ropes to being the QB1 twice early in the season.

It has been a learning curve for the freshman early on, as he’s dealt with his fair share of interceptions (7), while completing 55.8 percent of his passes thus far while making three total starts. However, the Utes have managed to pull off victories in two of those games, beating Utah State 38-21 and Oklahoma State 22-19 on the road.

As Utah turns back to their freshman quarterback, head coach Kyle Whittington understands the need to put Wilson in the best position to succeed, calling on the rest of the team to elevate their play around him.

But the players themselves believe that things will be smoother going forward. Now that there’s an answer at quarterback rather than having to deal with two different gameplans due to Rising’s injury, the Utes spoke this week about being ready.

“Now we don’t have to worry about that,” senior running back Micah Bernard said, via the Salt Lake Tribune. “We know the game plan fully and what we’re going to execute in that situation. I think it’ll help us a lot building around the guy we have at quarterback rather than building two different game plans.”

Offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig believes that the offense will become more traditional with Wilson under center, as they had to change a few things against Arizona State due to Rising’s hand injury.

Now, it’s up to the coaching staff to build around their true freshman’s capabilities to get the program in the best position to succeed.

“There are some components that we went with to compensate for Cam’s hand injury,’ Ludwig said. “Some of the plays that we usually do under center were not under center. So we’ll go back to that, which is a little bit more of true Utah football. What we wanted to do is what Cam wanted to do, but he was unable to physically. So we make the adjustments based on the individual players in the program, and we’re just going to work to play to Isaac’s strengths and the team’s strengths.”

Wilson and the Utes face the TCU Horned Frogs this weekend. TCU has really struggled on defense this year, but have a high-powered offense capable of starting a shootout behind quarterback Josh Hoover.

TCU has allowed 30+ points in three of their games, while giving up 66 in a blowout loss to SMU. This could be a favorable matchup for Wilson as he tries to get on track here now as the full-time starter.

Utah will likely look to lean on senior running back Micah Bernard, who has 676 yards in just six games, but Wilson will have a quick adjustment and will look to get the Utes back on track as they hope to make a late-season push in the Big 12.