Utah quarterback Cameron Rising appears to have avoided a serious injury to his right hand.
According to multiple reports, Rising will miss Saturday’s game against Utah State, but is expected to be back for the Utes’ Sept. 21 game against Oklahoma State. Rising injured his right hand late in the first half of Utah’s Week 2 game against Baylor.
Rising ran toward the left sideline and was pushed out of bounds after disposing of the ball. Rising fell into the drink station on the Baylor sideline and apparently hit his hand on a cooler.
His hand was left bloody after the play and he left for the locker room before halftime. Rising returned to the sideline without his uniform in the second half and was replaced for the rest of the game by freshman Isaac Wilson. While standing on the sideline, Rising had a bandage on his middle and ring fingers.
Wilson will be the starter in Rising’s absence against Utah State. He completed 4 of 9 passes for 30 yards in Utah’s 23-12 win over the Bears. The Utes failed to score in the second half after leading 23-3 at halftime.
Rising, a seventh-year senior, has thrown seven touchdown passes in less than two games this season. He opened the season with five touchdown passes against Southern Utah and completed 8 of 14 passes for 92 yards and two touchdowns in the first half against Baylor.
Rising proved how important he is to the Utes when Utah’s offense struggled mightily in 2023 while he was sidelined. Rising missed the entire season after suffering a knee injury in the Rose Bowl at the end of the 2022 season. Bryson Barnes, one of the quarterbacks who played in his absence, transferred to Utah State in the offseason and is set to start for the Aggies on Saturday.