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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah starting quarterback Travis Wilson is questionable for this week's game against USC after leaving the game early against Arizona.
Wilson injured his hand in the Stanford game, but said he was confident he'd be good to go against Arizona. Wilson re-injured his hand early in the game against Arizona and was forced to head to the locker room before halftime. He did not return for the remainder of the game.
Sophomore backup quarterback Adam Schulz finished the game for the Utes, going 12 of 23 for 142 yards and one touchdown.
"Schulz came in and did a good job for us on Saturday night. If we're at a point where we know Travis is not available, we'll have Schulz and Connor Manning take all the reps this week in practice," Whittingham said Monday at Utah's weekly press conference. "If Connor out plays him he'll be coming out of his redshirt year and be the guy.
If we get him at practice tomorrow we'll get a good feel for where he stands. We'll see; it's a medical staff decision.
–Kyle Whittingham
"That's a worse case scenario, and the best case scenario is that Travis can go and we'll be business as usual," he added.
Whittingham said the coaches will assess Wilson's ability to play this week following Tuesday's practice, but that he's not expecting Wilson to miss much time, if any.
"If we get him at practice tomorrow we'll get a good feel for where he stands. We'll see; it's a medical staff decision," Whittingham said.
Whittingham added that Manning would not be pulled out his his redshirt year unless Wilson is expected to miss more than one game: "If it's an extended thing, and we don't expect it to be, we wouldn't do it for one game — I didn't mean to paint that picture. If Travis is not available for just this game then Schulz will be our guy."
Junior running back Lucky Radley said he's confident Wilson will do everything in his power to play if healthy.
"Travis is a tough guy and works really hard," he said. "If he could play he would play. He's going to do everything in his power to play. He's from California and this game's really important to him. He wants to beat SC just like everyone else."
However, Radley said Schulz is capable of leading the team if Wilson is not the starter against USC.
