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SALT LAKE CITY — The "swagger" is back.
Utah football is 10 practices through its spring football period and Kyle Whittingham said quarterback Cam Rising has brought the confidence back to the offense as it prepares for its first season in the Big 12. That confidence — to say nothing of Rising's actual talent — is what Whittingham said Utah missed last season.
"Every practice he's been out here, which has been every single one of them this spring, it's — we have confidence," Whittingham said Tuesday. "He brings a swagger to the offense, and that's what we were missing last year. So it's great to have him back."
There's no doubt Utah missed Rising last season, and there's optimism from the program that the offense will be markedly better in the 2024 season — and may be even better than the 2022 season in which Rising led Utah to its second consecutive Pac-12 championship.
The weapons around Rising — at least on paper — have improved, and Utah enters the 2024 season with high expectations. But Whittingham isn't shying away from those expectation, and he believes Rising will be back to full form when he takes the field in fall.
"His arm's coming back," Whittingham said. "When you have an injury like he had, it affects your confidence in the ability to really step into your throw and rip through it. His arm strength is getting better, he's shaken pretty much all the rust off. He was a little rusty at the beginning, but through 10 practices he's really polished up his game."
That much has been evident in the limited media sessions where Rising has been a noticeable improvement to the offense, tossing several touchdowns (and running some in, too) in game-like settings. But spring touchdowns do not equate to fall success — at least not as a direct predictor to how a team will be when it goes up against someone other than itself.
Whittingham, though, believes his team has made good progress, and his closed scrimmage Saturday was a positive sign of that.
"Really good scrimmage," he said. "I think that's the most encouraging thing is how we looked in the scrimmage on Saturday. A lot of really good execution by the offense. Clean, very few penalties, ball security was good, defense tackled well, made plays on both sides of the ball, so that was an outstanding scrimmage that we had."
And though Utah has its confidence back on offense with Rising under center, last season taught the team how quickly things can turn if the backup quarterback isn't ready for the job.
As it stands, the backup job likely won't be settled until fall camp between third-year QB Brandon Rose, who has yet to take a Division I snap, and freshman QB Isaac Wilson.
"It's a dead heat," Whittingham declared. "I would say it's as dead of heat as it could be right now, but they're both getting better, which is key. We feel good about both of them. I'm pretty sure that this competition will carry into fall camp, so I don't expect anybody named after spring ball unless there's a great disparity in these last five practices."
Throughout spring, both quarterbacks have received their own praise.
Rose seemingly has more control of the playbook due to his three years in the system but has yet to showcase it in a real game. Part of that comes down to confidence and understanding Andy Ludwig's system enough to not be shell shocked when inserted into a real game.
There was optimism Rose would take some snaps during Utah's lackluster offensive showing in the Las Vegas Bowl, but he never got the opportunity, despite being seen warming up on the sideline several times throughout the game.
Whittingham said after the bowl game that Rose "is just not ready to do that yet," and that he wasn't "grasping the offense and decision-making" that comes along with being tasked with leading a team on the field.
"He's got a lot of things going for him — he's got a big arm and he moves around pretty good — so it's not indicative of where he could be at some point in time, but he's just not ready to be thrust in there right now," Whittingham said in December.
Has Rose taken the steps necessary to get him to a point where he can grasp the offense and play meaningful reps?
It maybe says something about where Rose is if a freshman in Wilson is on equal standing with him — or it just shows that Wilson is what many expected him to be. Being a star in high school doesn't always translate to the collegiate level, but Wilson has made significant progress in just a short time.
The throws he made — including the tight windows he threw into time and time again — at Corner Canyon will only become more challenging at the D-I level. Already, he's learned that the speed of the game is much faster than in high school, throwing a few interceptions in spring camp.
But that's what a freshman is supposed to be doing in spring (and likely in fall, too). And yet, the coaching staff has confidence in his ability to be neck-and-neck with Rose.
Is that enough for Utah this fall or will the coaching staff go portal shopping in the offseason for a proven backup?
