Utah's 2023 season will be remembered for two major storylines. Having possibly had the most injuries imaginable throughout the year, and also a quarterbacking disaster.
Kyle Whittingham played the game that Cam Rising would be back for Week 1 against Florida all offseason long, only for Rising to never come back due to what was a much more severe injury than reported. There were even "hopes" that he'd return down the stretch, but in true quarterback and narrative mismanagement, Whittingham announced after Utah's biggest win of the season at USC, that Rising was not returning.
This left them with Bryson Barnes, who while had some bright moments also struggled greatly at times. His worst showing? Saturday's bowl game against Northwestern, as the viral pig farming sensation laid an egg in what was his final game as a Ute before transferring. While you cannot entirely blame Barnes who likely wasn't as dialed in as needed due to the fact he is also trying to plan the next step of his life, Whittingham has caught a lot of heat for not playing Brandon Rose.
If that name sounds familiar, Rose was actually set to be the starter this season in place of the injured Rising, but was injured before the year and never played. Back on December 12, Whittingham expressed confidence in Rose, and even said he would play him in the bowl game.
“That time lost has still hindered him somewhat, but he ramped back up to where he's got a good feel for everything and is getting a good exposure to the game plan," said Whittingham earlier in the monht.
Well, on Saturday we learned that in the eyes of Whittingham, Rose was not ready at all.
Whittingham told reporters after the game that Rose didn't have an understanding of the offense.
"He is just not ready to do that yet," said Whittingham per Josh Furlong. "He's just not grasping the offense and decision-making. He's still in his learning stage — his learning stage. He's got a lot of things going for him — he's got a big arm and he moves around pretty good — so it's not indicative of where he could be at some point in time, but he's just not ready to be thrust in there right now."
There are now around 250 days between now and Utah's next game. In that time, Utah fans should hope that everyone in the quarterback room is going to be healthy, because as we have learned all season long, Whittingham isn't prone to providing updates that come to fruition. There was really no need to say there was any sort of confidence in Rose if he wasn't ready.
Also, the biggest head-scratcher of the game besides the Rose situation was Luke Bottari's appearance. He came into the game for one play, completed Utah's biggest pass of the game, and never returned. Regardless, what's done is done, and now Utah fans will wait and follow along to see if and when Rising is ready to go.
In terms of Whittingham, whether it's intentional or things are genuinely changing that much, he continues to cause fans to advocate for injury reports to be mandatory.
More must-reads: