Utah QB Cam Rising medically retiring from football after 7-year NCAA career due to hand injury
Under the bright lights of Allegiant Stadium last July, Cam Rising flashed his patented smile and laughed as the Utah quarterback was asked if he would consider ever triggering an eighth year of NCAA eligibility in 2025.
'Seven is good enough for me,' he said. 'But you never know. The cards are always on the table.'
At Big 12 Conference Media Day in Las Vegas last summer, the Utes were hyped as the favorite of the newly restructured 16-team conference. They had Rising returning after missing nearly two years of football following a gruesome knee injury in the 2023 Rose Bowl, they had their seasoned head coach in Kyle Whittingham and a roster believed at the time to be among the best in the league.
But Rising, known as one of the most fearless quarterbacks in college who took on linebackers and safeties alike in the open field, would see yet another series of unfortunate events derail a promising season. After suffering hand and lower leg injuries last fall, the 25-year-old quarterback who led Utah to back-to-back Pac-12 titles in 2021 and 2022 announced Wednesday he was medically retiring from football.
Bad Moon Out. pic.twitter.com/hfn5n5WtKB
— Cameron Rising (@crising7) May 7, 2025
'Due to a hand injury I suffered during the Baylor game, I've been advised by two orthopedic physicians that I will never be able to return to playing football,' Rising wrote in his posts on social media.
Rising said he will obtain a third opinion before undergoing surgery on his right hand that was injured in Utah's Week 2 win over Baylor last year when he was shoved out of bounds and into a Gatorade station on the Baylor sideline. The injury forced him to miss the next three games. Rising returned to start Utah's game at Arizona State, but he suffered a season-ending lower leg injury in the game. He played injured throughout the 27-19 loss to the Sun Devils.
The long and brutal road back from the injury suffered against Penn State in the Rose Bowl looked to be worth it in Utah's season-opening 49-0 win over Southern Utah last fall. Rising started for the first time in 606 days and threw a career-high five touchdowns in one half. That elation was short-lived.
Rising suffered a major knee injury in the 2023 Rose Bowl, tearing his ACL, MCL, meniscus and MPFL, the ligament that stabilizes the kneecap. While Rising was rehabbing his injury in the fall of 2023, he faced mounting pressure from the Utah fan base, which wondered exactly where he was in his process of returning from the serious injury. That October, he gave The Athletic permission to speak to his surgeon, renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache, about the severity of his injury.
As he noted in his farewell note on social media, Rising now has to step away from the game he loves for good. Rising's best statistical season came in 2022 when he earned All-Pac-12 honors for a second year in a row, throwing for 3,034 yards, 26 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He added another six rushing touchdowns.
Rising transferred to Utah from Texas in 2019 and won the starting quarterback job in the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season, but suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in the first quarter of Utah's season-opener that fall against USC.
When healthy, Rising was respected by NFL scouts for his competitive nature and leadership qualities. The Athletic's scouting expert Dane Brugler said prior to the 2024 season, Rising was projected by scouts to be a priority free agent in the draft process. Brugler added that had Rising recorded a highly productive senior season, he could be a late-round pick.
(Photo: Chris Gardner / Getty Images)
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