'We weren't keeping any secret': Rising was set to play, but injury 'setback' kept him out

SALT LAKE CITY — Everything pointed to Cam Rising getting the start at quarterback on Thursday on the road against Washington State.

Rising had been "banged up" following a gutsy win at home against USC a couple weeks before, but the junior signal caller had taken all the first-team reps in practice and remained the central figure to the team's offensive game plan.

Even on Thursday night, as the team went out to the field at Martin Stadium, Rising maintained his first-team status and went through all the warmup drills and throws as if he were the starter.

The FOX on-air team, Jeff Levering and Petros Papadakis, talked about the heroic comeback from Rising against USC with graphics of the team's leader shown on the TV as the offense took the field. The only problem was Rising was standing on the sideline wearing a yellow jersey, with no indication of him going into the game.

For a moment, there was a thought Utah was using backup Bryson Barnes as a decoy to start the game — get Washington State all messed up and then throw Rising in as the veteran player to win the day. But the realization that Rising was on the sideline permanently for the night quickly sank in.

It came as a shock to everyone involved. The FOX television crew was left frustrated, and so was head coach Kyle Whittingham, who said he got word about 30 minutes before game time that Rising wasn't going to play due to a "setback" while warming up.

On Monday, Whittingham said he understood the TV crew was left frustrated, but "not as frustrated as I was."

"Well, we weren't keeping any secret. It's not like when we met with them we were thinking any differently than they were," Whittingham said. "And I guess I could have ran out there 45 minutes before the game and started spreading the word to them, but they weren't even on site — they did it remotely — so I'm not sure what they expected.

"There was no trying to pull the wool over their eyes or make them look unprepared; there was nothing of that nature. It was a complete surprise to all of us, and so I don't know how we could have possibly proceeded any differently than we did."

Everything pointed to a Rising start, until it didn't.

The injury, which was apparent in the days after Utah's game against USC, was something Rising planned to play through, but Whittingham said the situation got worse on the day of the game, though the coaching staff didn't know that until Rising told them as part of his explanation for not being able to play that night.

"The injury got worse without tweaking it or taking a misstep or any of that," Whittingham said. "It was worse prior to arriving at the stadium, but he thought 'OK, I'll just go ahead and try and warm up and see how it feels.' He didn't express that right away to us, but he did as soon as he was able to go out and move around."

The team had confidence that Rising was "right on track to play."

Whittingham said he didn't question Rising or his injury status — he said he trusts Rising and his competitive drive to be on the field. That confidence to trust Rising in a pivotal point in the season came from the relationship he's built up over a three-year period with the former Texas transfer.

"Just spending three-plus years with him now on a daily basis, knowing him, who he is, his character, his personality, his competitiveness, his makeup, the whole thing," Whittingham said. "I mean, there's not a guy on the team that wants to win worse than him and would just disdain sitting out. He doesn't want to sit out, he wants to play, but he couldn't."

So the team called on Barnes to lead the charge with limited preparation for the game.

"I think he did an admirable job, very admirable job given the circumstances," Whittingham said. "He didn't take many reps during the week because Cam was taking them all. And so given the preparation — lack thereof, I guess you can say — I thought he responded well, and that shows what kind of studier of the game plan and of film to be ready under those circumstances."

And while Barnes had limited reps in the week's lead-up to the game, and offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig had little time to change the game plan, it all came together in a team effort to get a win on the road in Pullman, Washington, which was the first win in that stadium since 2011.

Whittingham said he's hopeful that Rising will be available to play on Saturday at home against Arizona (5:30 p.m. MDT, Pac-12 Networks), but that they'll have a better idea later in the week. But he added that Rising is "much further ahead today than he was a week ago today."

So assuming nothing changes, Utah should expect its starting quarterback to be under center Saturday night instead of standing on the sidelines.

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