After suffering a leg injury in Utah's 27-19 loss to Arizona State last week, starting quarterback Cam Rising is out for the season, Utah coach Kyle Whittingham announced Monday night.

Going forward, true freshman Isaac Wilson, who has started three games for the Utes this season in Rising's absence, will be Utah's starting quarterback starting Saturday against TCU.

“After further evaluation by our medical staff, Cameron Rising’s injury has unfortunately been deemed season-ending,” Whittingham said in a statement. “During his time at Utah, Cam was both a great player and a leader of our program, and we will obviously miss him. Future developments regarding his college eligibility will be discussed at a later date.”

On Utah's first drive Friday night, Arizona State defensive lineman Jeff Clark hit Rising as he threw, with the brunt of his 285-pound body appearing to fall on Rising's right ankle.

Rising immediately grabbed his right leg and then limped to his feet. Just three plays after returning from what was reported to be a dislocated finger and laceration, Utah's veteran quarterback suffered a new injury.

Rising stayed in the game, but obviously wasn't at 100%. For the rest of the game he had difficulty placing his leg on passes, and his hand may also have played a role in the difficulty, as many passes were missed. The senior finished the game with final stats of 209 yards and three interceptions with a career-worst completion percentage of 43%.

Rising's mobility was severely limited, and with so many passes missing their target, one had to wonder if Utah should have brought Wilson into the game given Rising's condition. However, Whittingham held on Rising in a game the Utes desperately needed to win.

Certainly there was no guarantee that Wilson, who had some turnover trouble, would have won the game for Utah, but he might have given the Utes a better shot than a clearly struggling Rising.

On Monday, Whittingham was asked if, in hindsight, he had kept Rising in the game too long, and his answer was similar to the one he gave after the game on Friday.

“Cam is a warrior and wanted to play. “We really moved the ball at the end of the first half and thought, OK, even though we didn't get into the end zone and then moved the ball well on the first drive of the second half,” Whittingham said.

“…We had the thought, would this be a step we would take? But he wanted to finish and he is an experienced vet. He would have let us know if he felt he wasn't effective enough, so we didn't make the move and that was that. That was the decision that our offensive coaches and our coordinator and quarterbacks coach actually made.”

In the end, Utah gained more yards through the air than Arizona State (209-167), but Rising clearly wasn't his usual self; While the Utes moved the ball seven times inside ASU's 30-yard line, only one of those drives ended in a touchdown.

Friday's loss to ASU could very well be the last time we see Rising play for the University of Utah, and it's a tough end to a memorable career.

During his time at Utah, Rising helped take the program to new levels, leading the Utes to back-to-back Pac-12 Championships in 2021 and 2022. He will go down in Utah history as one of the school's most successful quarterbacks. Someone who helped lead the Utes to some of the most memorable victories in program history, such as two straight wins against Oregon in 2021 and two wins against USC in Year 2022.

“Anytime you can be one of the greatest ever at a school like Utah, it's something you only dreamed of as a kid,” Rising said in a preseason interview.

He's been dealt a bad hand injury-wise over the last two years, as he missed the entire 2023 season due to knee injury rehab and 4.5 of Utah's six games in the 2024 season due to a reported dislocated finger and laceration, and subsequently suffered a leg injury in his first game back after the finger injury.

There is an opportunity for Rising to take another medical redshirt and play an eighth year of college football.

Have Whittingham and Rising already had discussions about this?

“No, but now that we’re in the situation, I think there will be a possibility,” Whittingham said. “I don't know, but we need to look at compliance in detail and I'm not even sure Cam would be interested in going that route. He has a lot to think about, so take a step back now…get this recent injury thoroughly diagnosed and headed to rehab, and then this would be something we would talk about sooner rather than later.”

Given all the injuries he's suffered over the last few years, it would be surprising if Rising decides to play for an eighth year, and shocking if he returns to Utah to do so.

As Utah enters the second half of its schedule with Wilson taking over at quarterback, it's clear what the offense needs to fix to turn things around – a better passing game and fixing the red zone issues.

“Our biggest nemesis right now is the throwing game. I mean, we're just not efficient enough in the throwing game. We're last in the conference in completion percentage, we're the worst in the conference in shooting picks, so we've got to figure that out. Our third-down percentage is suffering, the red zone is suffering, and it’s really because we can’t be efficient enough in the shooting game,” Whittingham said.

Will Wilson be able to fix Utah's offensive woes? We'll see, but going forward it's clear that this is his team. He doesn't split reps with Rising in practice and doesn't have to look over his shoulder and think about when Rising is coming back.

Wilson will get the vast majority of first-team players in training – around 75% – while Brandon Rose, Wilson's replacement, will get the remaining 25%.

“As long as things don’t really go wrong, Isaac is our guy and we have a lot of confidence in him,” Whittingham said.