This star quarterback should return for his eighth season in 2025

Seventh-year quarterback Cam Rising has once again suffered a season-ending injury after having only played three games this year. Rising, who transferred to Utah from Texas in 2019, still has one more year of eligibility left. Rising should absolutely return to college football in 2025, whether it's with the Utes or another program.

Rising, when healthy, is considered one of the premier quarterbacks in the country. The 25-year-old led the Utes to back-to-back Pac-12 titles (2021-2022) and had a prolific 2022 campaign. In 2022, Rising garnered 3,034 passing yards, 26 touchdowns, and averaged 7.9 yards per pass (all stats are career-highs).

However, the injury bug has constantly derailed the California native quarterback from reaching even greater heights. In 2019, he had to sit out after transferring to Texas. In 2020, Rising suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in the first game of the season. Rising also missed the entire 2023 campaign due to having suffered a knee injury in the 2023 Rose Bowl contest against Penn State.

Since Rising only played in three games this season, he is allowed to medically redshirt and is able to play for yet another season.

Rising in three starts has thrown for 555 yards, 7 touchdowns, and three interceptions (all came vs. Arizona State). The 2022 Pac-12 Championship game MVP didn't look completely healthy in any of his starts, and perhaps his time in Salt Lake City is coming to an end.

Since Rising is done for the season, the Utes are now turning their attention to former four-star prospect and freshman quarterback Isaac Wilson. Wilson aided the Utes to wins against Utah State and Oklahoma State thus far, but now the freshman is the de-fact-to leader for the rest of the season.

If Wilson can lead the Utes to key victories and show flashes of being a good quarterback, maybe Rising should look for another program that might need a serviceable quarterback to take them to the next level.

In all honesty, at 25 years old and already having a long sheet of injury history, it's likely that Rising won't be on an NFL team in the future. Why not continue to collect NIL money and perhaps play his final season of football to lead a program to a championship?

There are a plethora of schools across the country that may need Rising's services in 2025 such as Alabama, Colorado, Ole Miss, Michigan, and Notre Dame just to name a few. The teams mentioned either desperately need a quarterback (quarterbacks on the current roster aren't ready) or their current quarterback will likely enter the 2025 NFL Draft this upcoming April.

Sure, people will look at Rising and question why a 25-year-old is still playing college football if he does decide to play next season, but the pros outweigh the cons and a healthy Rising can lead a title-deprived program into national title contention, if healthy.

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