Cam Rising did not have to do everything on Saturday night against the University of Arizona.
Not when he hadn’t played a game in three weeks, not when it was evident his injured left knee was not fully healthy, not on a night when the University of Utah’s rushing attack came alive on a sloppy, rainy night at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Buoyed by the return of Tavion Thomas, the 14th-ranked Utes ran for a season-high 306 yards, true freshman quarterback Nate Johnson rushed for touchdowns on the first two touches of his career, and the pressure was taken off Rising throughout a 45-20 drubbing of the Wildcats in front of an announced crowd of 51,919.
Ja’Quinden Jackson ran for 97 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries, and Jaylon Glover added 69 yards on eight carries, but both left the game in the third quarter due to injuries. Utes coach Kyle Whittingham labeled Jackson’s an upper-body injury, and Glover’s a lower-body injury, but had nothing definitive to offer injury-wise during his postgame news conference.
“When everybody’s running downhill and the linemen are blocking, doing their job, and everyone else is blocking, doing what they’re supposed to be doing, good things are going to happen for the offense,” said Rising, who finished 13 for 25 for 151 yards and a touchdown in three-plus quarters of work before giving way to Bryson Barnes once the outcome was no longer in doubt. “That takes a lot of weight off my shoulders.”
Added Whittingham: “The running backs ran hard, and they did some good things on their own, but nobody rushes for 300 yards without controlling the line of scrimmage.”
Jackson and Glover carried much of the load before their respective injuries, but Johnson’s collegiate debut will go down as the highlight of an otherwise benign evening as Utah (7-2, 5-1 Pac-12) remained in contention for a spot in the Pac-12 championship game.
A four-star recruit out of Clovis (Calif.) High School in Fresno, Johnson took his first collegiate snap late in the first quarter on second-and-goal from the 8, rolled right, and sped to the right pylon for a touchdown and a 14-7 Utes lead.
Late in the second quarter, a similar sequence played out. On first-and-goal from the 9, Johnson the snap, rolled left, got a great block on the perimeter from tight end Munir McClain, and got to the left pylon to give the Utes 28-7 lead heading into halftime.
Johnson, who drew positive reviews earlier this season from Whittingham and offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig for his work with the scout team, learned on Monday that there would be a specific package installed for him.
“As a true freshman, most true freshman quarterbacks don’t really play, they intend on red-shirting, so this gives me a really big confidence boost.”
Thomas’ return after he did not travel to Washington State for Utah’s 21-17 win saw him in on kickoff and punt coverage most of the night, but once Jackson and Glover went out, Whittingham had little choice but to give Thomas reps, at least to take some of the burden off Micah Bernard (12 carries, 48 yards) at that point. The All-Pac-12 senior carried the ball eight times for 38 yards, fueling the notion that whatever problems have persisted this fall might be behind him.
Whittingham did not entirely disagree with that notion.
“We think so, we hope so,” Whittingham said when asked if he thinks Thomas is making the progress he needs to. “He’s in a good situation right now, so we hope we can keep him integrated and contributing.”
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