Utes mailbag: How much of an impact will Cam Rising have on the offense?

SALT LAKE CITY – Twenty-five percent of the University of Utah football season is gone. Cam Rising has yet to be available for a game, and the meat of Utah's schedule doesn't come for another month.

When Rising will appear for the first time this fall remains shrouded in mystery, as well as contention among some pockets of the fan base, but the expectation remains that the sixth-year senior will eventually return for the Utes.

The offense scored 7 points against UCLA, is ranked 112th nationally in total offense, and 119th nationally in passing offense, meaning that for a team believing a third straight Pac-12 championship is possible, Rising's return can't come soon enough.

We'll start this Utes mailbag right there.

Q: "I posed this question in a one liner in my poll column this weekend: At this point, even if Rising returns, how much of an impact will he have on the offense? How quickly can he go from inactive to his old self?" - @ralphDrussoAP

Hi, Ralph. Please send pizza and bagels when you have time. I will Venmo you for shipping costs. Thank you.

The biggest initial impact Rising will have on the offense is that his presence will allow offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig to go deeper into the playbook. Head coach Kyle Whittingham said after the Weber State game that Nate Johnson had about half the playbook at his disposal.

After UCLA, Whittingham said that number was at about 75%. That may be the case, but it has seemed clear that Ludwig does not want to overload Johnson and is calling what he believes the redshirt freshman can handle, not to mention execute.

Rising is in his fifth season working with Ludwig, and it has been well-documented for multiple seasons that Rising's knowledge of Ludwig's scheme is second only to the coaching staff. There is a lot of trust between Ludwig and Rising, going all the way back to when Rising would sit in the box upstairs with Ludwig during home games in an effort to better understand how his OC operates during a game.

Two potential problems whenever Rising returns: 1) the state of the run game is not great at the moment with Ja'Quinden Jackson continually banged up, Jaylon Glover being asked to take on a lot more, and Chris Curry not quite ready to assume a large role; 2) Rising may not have a pass-catching monster at tight end to lean on as has been the case for his entire career.

Dalton Kincaid is with the Buffalo Bills, and Brant Kuithe has yet to return from last season's knee injury.

As for how quickly Rising can go from inactive to his old self, good question without an easy answer. He has not played a football game since Jan. 2, and he certainly isn't getting hit in practice right now as he continues to ramp up.

Rising's old self includes being able to move laterally and tuck the ball away and go, whether that be by design or on a scramble. Whittingham has said a handful of times that Rising won't play until he is 100%, but that notion needs to be discussed in relative terms coming off knee surgery.

Whenever Rising debuts, pay attention to how many designed keepers Ludwig calls. If that number gets to six, seven or eight, I think that is a good indication that Rising is back to, or at least close to, his old self.

Final thought on this: For what it's worth, the weather forecast in Corvallis this week calls for a lot of rain, including Friday morning. Even if Rising finally gets full clearance for a game, is a wet field at Oregon State where you want to throw him out there for the first time?

Just food for thought, because if you think you can survive Reser Stadium without Rising, you then get the bye, followed by Cal as something of a dress rehearsal for Rising before playing at USC on Oct. 21.

Q: "Other than Cam, which three players who didn't play last week would be the highest-impact if they could return this week?" - @bundial

If he returns, whenever he returns, Kuithe would have the biggest impact on an offense that has struggled for the majority of its three games vs. Power Five competition. At full capacity, Kuithe is Utah's best pass-catcher and its most versatile offensive weapon. We've heard a lot through the years about lining Kuithe up out of the slot, in the backfield, even out of the Wildcat. The No. 1 answer is Kuithe.

You'd like to see Connor O'Toole out there for the first time, but Utah's defensive front has managed just fine without him. Still, Whittingham has called O'Toole his best pass-rushing defensive end, so the Utes are better with him, but what does that do to your depth up front? Who starts? Who sits? I suspect Logan Fano.

No knock on Joey Cheek, who missed a 47-yard field goal against UCLA that had enough leg, but Cole Becker was pulled out of the NCAA Transfer Portal for a reason. He's been solid, dependable, and mostly as advertised. Utah could use him back soon, if not Friday for a game that is projected to be close according to the analytics, as well as the sharps in Las Vegas.

Q: "What effect does Johnny Maea's return have on the offensive line? Does Jaren Kump shift to a starting tackle or guard spot?" - @peaceloveutes

Yeah, good question, and while Whittingham generally does not go deep on injuries that are not season-ending, he painted an optimistic picture of Maea's status after the UCLA win.

Whittingham indicated that Maea, Utah's projected starting center during fall camp, is one of 8-10 guys that are "very close" to returning. He went on to say that Maea is close enough that he was expected to practice this week. The question then becomes, is it possible to get Maea up to speed and ready to play off a short week for a Friday game.

Whittingham's answer was yes, so that bears watching. If Maea is ready to play, he still has to take that center spot back from Jaren Kump. If and when that happens, where Kump lands will be an interesting subplot. The fourth-year sophomore's 14 career starts have come at four different offensive line positions. Seven of those 14 are at right tackle, where Sataoa Laumea is entrenched.

Q: "Whitt can run his program how he wants, and it's hard to argue with the results, but do you think he regrets and ever changes his stance on not discussing injuries? It clearly just creates more questions and more frustration from the media and fans. I'm sure it actually benefits the team." - @utes_pac12

I agree, Whittingham can run his program how he sees fit. That's never been in question, nor should it be.

I can say with a high degree of certainty that Whittingham does not regret his stance on discussing injuries. He has said it in passing a few times that I can remember that there is no mandate from anyone, not his athletic director, not the Pac-12, not the NCAA that he has to discuss injuries. He doesn't have to do it, so he's not going to do it.

The only way that changes is if the Big 12 begins instituting weekly injury reports like the Big Ten did this season. I'll tell you this, though, based on things he has said in the past. Whittingham will abide by that potential Big 12 rule if it ever happens, but he will be irked by it unless the entire country is doing the same thing.

I'll tell you this, too: Despite the Big Ten going to injury reports, the Earth has kept spinning, the sun has still come out, just like always.

I will not speak for the fans, nor am I going to speak for all media covering Utah football, but for me, yes, the lack of injury transparency just creates more questions and more frustration, but mostly more questions, the majority of which aren't getting answered, let alone asked with limited availability to Whittingham during the week.

I can remember roughly 15 years ago, being on the outside of the periphery helping cover Rutgers football under Greg Schiano when he really had it going there. In a pre-social media world where the internet had not fully taken over journalism, practices were open to reporters and injuries/absences could be reported as long as Schiano addressed them after practice, which was almost always the case.

We live in a much different media environment now. This applies everywhere, not just Utah, but since I cover Utah, the idea of Whittingham opening regular-season practice to the media and openly discussing injuries is impossible to get my head around. To do that, it would take an immense amount of trust in the local media on his end. No offense to Whittingham or anyone else in the building, but I have no faith that such an arrangement is ever going to happen.

As a journalism nerd, I can talk forever about this, but I'll finish it up with this: The media is the conduit between the football program and the fans. The only group of people that the lack of transparency and access is hurting is the fans.

Q: "Do you think Utah's defense is legitimately elite, or do they get exposed in Seattle and Los Angeles?" - @redtotoe801

There is real, tangible evidence through four games that Utah's defense is elite.

The schedule to this point has not been a collection of cupcakes, with three of the four wins coming against Power Five competition. The Utes are giving up 263.8 yards per game (T-No. 1 Pac-12, No. 9 nationally), 51.0 rushing yards (No. 1 Pac-12, No. 3 nationally), 9.5 points (No. 1 Pac-12, No. 6 nationally), and are in the top-20 in several other defensive categories.

By any metric, the defense is a wagon, and that's without full health along the defensive front. The only real knock is that the Utes have given up a slew of chunk plays through the air, but none of that has cost it a game yet. That's a topic for another day.

You ask if this defense will get exposed in Seattle or Los Angeles like Washington doesn't lead the nation in total offense. USC is No. 3 nationally in total offense, and just for good measure because Utah also plays Oregon, the Ducks are No. 2.

In fairness, neither the Huskies nor the Trojans have played anybody real yet, but I'm going to assume that both teams are going to score points against Utah, who gave up a boatload of offense in both USC games last season.

If Utah wants to beat USC, Washington, and Oregon, the offense has to get going, and do so at a high level. In other words, yeah, the Utes, at a minimum, need Rising back. Speaking of which ...

Q: "Josh, have we reached the point where we can stop thinking and talking about the Rising situation until we actually see him take a snap? Hoping the answer is yes." - @joshua_rooker

Let's make this short and sweet.

No matter how over this topic you might be, Rising's status remains the No. 1 storyline for the program. There's not even a close No. 2. Seriously, what is No. 2? Better yet, if you think there is something more important than Rising's status, please enlighten me.

If you're choosing to tune out the Rising stuff, I wish you the sincerest of good luck.

Q: "What are your thoughts on fans booing the offense?" - @MatthewFishler

I forget exactly when it happened during the UCLA game, but at some point, there was definitely some faint booing as the offense struggled to move the ball.

I've seen a fair amount of rhetoric out there regarding Andy Ludwig and what is being viewed as conservative/vanilla/ineffective play-calling. That said, you might have some of those same people telling you that the booing on Saturday was not directed at the players, but rather Ludwig and the constant stream of running plays, many of which went nowhere.

Get real.

If you're booing what you're seeing on the field, you're not directing that to the box high above the field, you're directing that to the field. You're booing student-athletes, some of whom, like Nate Johnson, are still teenagers. If you're booing at a college game, you should really reassess things.

You want to boo at a professional game? Go ahead, they're paid professionals, that's part of the deal. Booing players at a college game, all of whom are unpaid amateurs, always hits me as the skeeviest of skeeves. No, the fact a lot of these guys are now being paid via NIL does not change the equation, I've thought that part through.

If you want to boo and/or verbally abuse college players, you can do it anonymously via social media or the message boards. Those options are always at your disposal.

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