Cam Rising is loving football again, the game that loved him back until it seemed to hate him. It helped him soar to great heights at Utah, where he threw for and ran for enough touchdowns, where he led his teammates to enough wins to become one of the best quarterbacks to ever play for the Utes.
But then fickle football betrayed him, inflicted its pain.
After kissing and caressing him, enabling him to lead Utah to wildly successful seasons that led to championships that then led to invitations to Rose Bowls, it kicked him hard. It bent his knees — and various other joints, including his shoulder — in ways they were not meant to be bent. He fought back, trying to heal himself enough to return, to do what he’d done in the past. It repaid him by turning its back on him again, mangling his hand to the point where he no longer could grip a football, let alone spin it.
Think about that, the frustration that comes to a quarterback so eager to replicate what, under normal conditions, he could do, what he’d proved he could do — not being able to properly fit his hand around the very thing that had previously blessed him. Traitorous.
And so, now, as Salt Lake Tribune writer Jason Batacao’s story on Rising illustrates, the former Ute is rising again, having retreated to a safe space, coaching as an offensive coordinator at his prep alma mater, Newbury Park [Calif.] High School, learning the ins and outs of coaching as he instructs a four-star quarterback at the school, a kid committed to Michigan, how to better play the position he, himself, had mastered.
What’s the familiar, sometimes unfair saying? Those who can’t do teach.
In Rising’s case, it’s more a matter of him staying connected to his old lover. He said he has no clue whether coaching is his full-time future, but he’s most certainly benefited from the NIL money he received while at Utah, and has the luxury of taking some time not just to figure out that future, but to get to know himself better in the present as he takes the good from his past, utilizes it, and leaves the bad alone.
There is lingering animosity banging around inside Rising’s brain regarding the way his injuries were treated, the way he was handled at Utah. Rising doesn’t comment on any of that, leaving outsiders to guess on the state and status of that situation. Will it simply fade away or will it transform into something impossible to ignore? Only he knows with any exactness.
(Julie Leopo | Special to The Tribune) From left, Panthers quarterback Brady Smigiel stands with his coach, Cameron Rising, a former Utah quarterback and Newbury Park High player, during the home game against Arroyo Grande on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, in Newbury Park, Calif.
But Rising’s journey through the vicissitudes of playing college football is compelling stuff. He started out at Texas, transferred to Utah, where he was forced to fight with and fight off competitors — Jake Bentley and Charlie Brewer, each of whom was named the starter in front of him at one point — for the coveted QB1 position. He did exactly that, and proceeded to make winning a habit. His wild-eyed, aggressive style of play made him the quarterback that he was, but it also put him in harm’s way. Harm that, despite his success, eventually exacted its toll.
Ute coaches, teammates, fans and team physicians grew accustomed to seeing Rising standing on the sideline during games, his long locks flowing out the side of his baseball cap, his facial hair formed around a sullen expression. Ironic it was — sad and sorry, too — that the man who once was celebrated for winning championships became a source of exasperation, of annoyance even, for some of the folks and fans around him.
Sometimes people forget that football players are, in fact, humans. NIL payments make them no less human. And Rising was most definitely human, subject to the frailties that football at times manifests.
Rising was china in a bull shop.
Many Utah fans remember the quarterback’s highlights. All of them should. Maybe the frustration will simply and completely wash away. The fact that Utah presently — after last season’s QB debacle — has a player at that position that shows great promise may help with the rinse mode.
Either way, now Rising fades into his future, finding his path forward, trying to baffle high school opponents, concocting attack schemes, hoping his own players can do the things he did, can play the way he did, can win the way he did.
He wants them to love the game the way he did. And with any luck, the game will love them back, and keep loving them back, minus the pain, the betrayal and the hate.