Utah quarterback Cameron Rising walks into the stadium before a game against Arizona on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Salt Lake City, Utah. | Tyler Tate, Associated Press
Under college football rules, Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, who plays things close to the vest anyway, is not required to declare the injury status or availability of players before a game. The NFL has such a requirement because of its marriage to gambling interests, but not the NCAA (not yet anyway); neither does the Big 12 Conference (not yet anyway).
So Whittingham doesn’t have to share information about a player’s status. But should he?
This weekly guessing game about the availability of quarterback Cam Rising is annoying and stale for everyone else. Some observers — fans, media, social media — have run out of patience with the situation, the vague information about the injury itself and its seriousness, Rising dressing for games and going through the full pregame warmup routine, the “game-time decisions,” the ongoing uncertainty.
CBS headline: “Utah star QB’s murky injury status has become a maddening weekly circus.”
Whittingham said last week that he’s not “trying for any gamesmanship or any of that stuff,” so we can take him at his word.
Or not. As Deseret News beat writer Joe Coles reported, Whittingham has always been “cagey” about injuries, stating often that he won’t provide information about injuries unless they are season-ending.
Either way, it’s gotten old. Especially since it is a repeat of last season. Rising, injured in the last game of the 2022 season, didn’t play a down in 2023, but the Utes didn’t announce he was out for the season until Oct. 22 — in Week 7. It was Rising himself who finally provided information about the full extent of that injury.
Will he play? This has been the dominant storyline…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/cam-rising-dilemma-180000730.html
Author : Deseret News
Publish date : 2024-10-04 18:00:00
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