Cam Rising knows there’s beauty in struggle. Here’s how he rallied for another comeback

SALT LAKE CITY — The daily couch setup allowed for doing absolutely nothing if that’s what he wanted. The TV remotes, PlayStation 5 controllers, phone chargers, ice wraps, the machines to help the swelling on his surgically repaired left knee, all were placed perfectly around him. But Cameron Rising always wanted his crutches within grasp.

Back home in Ventura, Calif., the experienced and resilient Utah quarterback could not bear sitting still for too long, even when he should. The breakfast burritos usually needed more salsa, so rather than ask, he cultivated a reason to get up, to get moving, inching toward the Rising family kitchen. When his mother, Eunice, offered to bring him whatever he needed, he waved her off like a receiver incorrectly moving in motion.

“He’d always say, ‘I’ll go and get what I need,’” she remembers.

So he did. Day after day, Rising would crutch around looking for a new task. Playing fetch with the family dog Foxy Brown and catching the Southern California rays. Trying to win the occasional games of Yahtzee.

Even the most inane undertakings mattered then. Because he was so aggravatingly far from being the flowy-haired No. 7 who had led the Utes to back-to-back Pac-12 titles as well as consecutive appearances at the Rose Bowl.

The aftermath of a devastating knee injury like the one Rising suffered in the third quarter of the Rose Bowl on Jan. 2, 2023, against Penn State morphed from months of rehabilitation into missing a full season. And with it came the incessant internal pondering of what lies ahead. He tore his ACL, MCL, meniscus and the medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL), which stabilizes the kneecap, all in one cut attempt to push for more yardage.

Rising labeled most of the past 19 months “Groundhog Day.” Every Monday was Thursday and every Thursday was Saturday, and the cycle spun on. The arduous journey back for Rising, who turned 25 in May and is in his seventh year of NCAA eligibility, put his infectiously sunny mindset to the test.

“I always like to think there’s a job to do,” Rising said ahead of the 2024 season, “so how I’m feeling doesn’t really matter.”

But it did. And still does.

Utah’s College Football Playoff hopes hinge on the weekly availability of its starting quarterback. And already after returning to the field in 2024, Rising has missed a game. In Utah’s 23-12 win over Baylor on Sept. 7, Rising suffered a deep laceration on fingers of his right throwing hand when he was shoved out of bounds into a hydration station. A rowdy Rice-Eccles Stadium hushed in all too familiar fashion amid another cruel reminder of how trying Rising’s quest back was.

“He hated what he was going through. You knew it, too. But he would never verbalize it,” Eunice said. “He would not let himself declare himself as not good. It wasn’t happening.”

He dressed and sported a glove on his right hand for Utah’s 38-21 win last weekend at Utah State, but did not play. Utah is hopeful Rising can start in what is anticipated to be No. 12 Utah’s stiffest test in its first go-round in the Big 12 on Saturday at No. 14 Oklahoma State. The Utes need Rising to reach their full potential, which is why they also need Rising to find a way to dial down his insatiable drive for that extra yard.

While recovering from his knee injury, Rising, a man of few words, would often shrug his shoulders with a response his father, Nicko Rising, chokes up repeating: “Dad, there’s beauty in the struggle.”

The Cam Rising football timeline stretches so far back that he was once committed to play for Lincoln Riley — when Riley was the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma in 2016. A year later, in April 2017, Rising flipped to commit to Texas. A year and a half after that, Rising entered the transfer portal, just two months after its official launch.

Rising has been around for so long that he had to sit for nearly a year after he enrolled at Utah due to NCAA transfer regulations that no longer exist. His avatar photos on several social media platforms are of him warming up in his first official action as a Utah quarterback — as a fourth-stringer behind former starter Tyler Huntley in the 2019 Alamo Bowl against the Longhorns.

He beat out South Carolina transfer Jake Bentley in the COVID-19-shortened season of 2020 but suffered a torn labrum in the first quarter of his first-ever start against USC that fall and was out for the year. Utah brought in Baylor transfer Charlie Brewer that offseason as Rising went through his shoulder rehab. After Brewer struggled early in the 2021 season, Rising replaced him in the third game, at San Diego State. Utah lost in triple overtime, but Rising led a fourth-quarter comeback that coach Kyle Whittingham still recalls as one of his fondest Rising memories to date.

From that point on, Rising became synonymous with Utah football. The hair grew longer, the mustache and goatee bushier, too. College football fans knew about No. 7 and how, even when he gets knocked to the ground, he rises.

“He’s always answered the bell time after time,” Whittingham said. “He’s the unquestioned leader of this football team. He has the unique ability to make those around him better. Really the mark of a great player is a guy who can make his supporting cast overachieve. He has that ability.”

There have been other scares. In Utah’s 45-44 loss to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl after the 2021 season, Rising was knocked out cold briefly and knocked out of the game when his helmet hit the turf in the fourth quarter with the score tied 38-38.  

Rising played hurt throughout the 2022 season. He injured his MCL and MPFL in his most memorable performance to date: a five-touchdown performance against No. 7 USC and a two-point conversion to win it with 48 seconds remaining.

Upon his return to the Rose Bowl, Rising said there was a play earlier on in the first half against Penn State when his left knee got a little twisted. The cut on third-and-7 as he took on three Nittany Lions defenders was the final straw. Rising got the first down. The adrenaline helped him onto his feet but the pain pulsated, and he went down.

“There’s always going to be those thoughts of, ‘Am I going to be able to come back? Am I going to be the same?’” Rising recalled. “But … I was thinking about my leg and what process I needed to go through to get back. That’s where my mind shifted right after it happened. What doctor am I going to see?

“I don’t really believe in sulking. You can do it to a certain extent, but at some point, you’ve got to move on.”

There is an understanding Rising has of the position that extends well beyond his responsibilities under center. The quarterback is always the star, even if he doesn’t want to be.

“I’ve always been a guy that likes having the ball in my hands, and that’s it,” he said.

Which is why the past 19 months were so taxing. The first few months of rehab featured drives of two to four hours to Elite OrthoSport in Santa Monica six days a week. As he met benchmark after benchmark laid out by renowned surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache, Rising returned to Utah in July 2023. He was cruising through necessary checkpoints, which left ElAttrache, Utah football, its fans and Rising himself wondering whether he could start the 2023 season opener at home against Florida.

Though his knee never reacted poorly to practices, Rising said he wasn’t able to practice often in successive days. He just wasn’t himself, which is no surprise considering the type of injuries and surgery he’d undergone just eight months prior. Utah’s program has a policy of not discussing or disclosing injuries so though there were some days Rising looked like he could go, there were others when he couldn’t. And the fans grew more frustrated as the will-he-or-won’t-he rolled on last fall.

A fan left a one-star review for ElAttrache on Google reviews with a comment: “Let Cam play.”

With each passing week, Rising heard the same question wherever he went. “How’s the knee?” was the first thing anyone would say to him if he was at a grocery store or a restaurant or at a name, image and likeness event. It all started to compound. Rising hates being the bearer of bad news, too, so having to repeat himself began to add to an unfamiliar level of anxiety.

“I actually tried to not go out and eat. I just stayed at home,” he said. “The DoorDash bill went up a little bit.”

Nicko Rising saw the toxic discourse online begin to swell. Some people blamed Whittingham for not playing Rising. Others said Rising was gaming the system, returning to Utah to continue to keep his NIL arrangements that have reportedly been in six to seven figures. Utah’s lofty goals in its last year in the Pac-12 weren’t met as the team went 8-5 and faced so many injuries that in the regular-season finale against Colorado it was down to its fifth-string quarterback. The Utes couldn’t replace Rising’s production or replicate the sense of calm he provides for the team — and fans – when under center.

Truth is, the public didn’t know the true extent of his knee injury. The first week of October, Rising went on his weekly radio hit with Utah’s flagship radio station and revealed just how severe it was.

“It did take a toll on him,” Nicko said. “But nothing is insurmountable for Cam.”

Rising’s rehab continued in Salt Lake City and in Southern California when he would go home. During some workout sessions in Santa Monica, he chopped it up with NFL superstar and fellow ElAttrache patient Aaron Rodgers, who was recovering from an Achilles tendon rupture. Rodgers told Rising of his own reconstructive left knee surgery when he was a quarterback at Cal in 2004.

“Being able to pick his mind about anything was unreal,” Rising said. “That helped me keep pushing through and trying to get there.”

Rising was finally cleared fully this spring. It was a welcomed exhale he’d been waiting to take for over a year. He was still fielding inquiries about the knee around town, but he could finally toss out a thumbs up comfortably rather than a shrug.

“The nice thing is I try not to think about it out there,” he said. “Once the ball is snapped everything clears out and you have to make sure you send it the right way.”

When it’s time for the Utah offense to take the ball, Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Bad Moon Rising” reverberates through an elated Rice-Eccles Stadium. When the ode to Rising blared in the 2024 opener against Southern Utah on Aug. 29, Rising jogged out slowly with a wry smile. It had been 606 days since his last snap in the Rose Bowl.

On Utah’s first offensive play, Rising was hit by a defensive lineman. On his first impromptu scramble three plays later, linebacker Mason Stromstad helped slow Rising by pulling on the bottom of his jersey on the 11-yard run as he went out of bounds. Fans will be holding their breath every single time he takes off this season or is sacked and slammed to the turf. Suffice it to say, everyone knows what Utah’s quarterback has gone through to get back for what is his last year of college football.

Rising went on to throw for a career-high five touchdown passes in the first half of Utah’s 49-0 rout of SUU. He was on the headset before halftime.

Rising did briefly consider testing NFL Draft waters last year, but his recovery coupled with a deep quarterback draft class would’ve been a risky roll of the dice, and the NFL is no sure thing after this season, either.

“He has a universal approval rating as a competitor, but the injuries and an average physical skill set make it more likely he is undrafted than drafted,” The Athletic NFL Draft expert Dane Brugler said. “But, all it takes is one team to believe in the player, so he certainly has a chance.”

In Salt Lake, he’s a brand name who is still in demand on the NIL front where he’s partnered with companies from a local Toyota dealership to a local credit union.

And with 12 teams now having a say in the Playoff and Utah returning a veteran-laden squad, the taste of victory he’s been so used to was impossible to pass up.

“That’s what it is,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to contend for a national championship, so that’s why I came back. I want to go try and get there.”

Utah will have a shot so long as No. 7 is leading the charge, his hair flying free beneath the bottom of his helmet. And each time “Bad Moon Rising” blares, Nicko and Eunice Rising sing with the rest of the fans surrounding them in their seats near the Utah student section. Classics never get old. At 25, Rising has established himself as such in Salt Lake.

“It’s going to make me cry but I feel like, in his heart, he knew he wasn’t done,” Eunice said. “He’s not done.”

(Top photo: Chris Gardner / Getty Images)