Top Five Quarterbacks In Utah Football History

Huntley played a key role as a true dual-threat quarterback and won 23 games as a starter for Utah. He holds several school records which include the best completion percentage for a career at 67.2% and also the single-season record at 73%.

His career numbers for 37 games include 7,351 passing yards, 46 touchdowns and 20 interceptions. Huntley also rushed for 1,146 yards and 16 touchdowns on the ground.

4. Scott Mitchell, 1987-89

Statistically, Scott Mitchell is the greatest Ute quarterback in school history. He left for the NFL after his junior and played in only 35 games for Utah. 

Despite fewer games he is No. 1 all-time in passing yards with 8.981 and that is 1,128 yards more than Johnson who is in second place. Mitchell also owns the most touchdown passes with 69, which is 12 more than Johnson.

Mitchell also has the first and third most passing yards in a season, most touchdowns in a game with six, and owns the the top two spots for passing yards in a game with 620 and 511 yards. 

That 620-yard performance was against Air Force and the Utes lost that game in 1988, 56-49.

Mitchell was in an era where Utah’s defense was not what it is today, so they had to throw the ball all over the field to stay close in games.

During his three years in Salt Lake City, Mitchell had a 15-20 record and never made it to a bowl game despite a 6-5 record in 1988.

However, the greatest thing Mitchell did for the Utes was ending their nine-game losing streak to BYU in a whopper of a fashion, winning 57-28. 

This win was one of the biggest ever for Utah at the time as Mitchell had a huge game with 384 passing yards, two touchdowns, and it was done in front of the home crowd.

However, the best part of the win was the postgame press conference which Mitchell credit’s some superstition for the win.

“I wore my good luck Kangol hat all week long. I was sitting in the locker room before the game started," Mitchel said. "I was looking down on the floor and there was a penny right there and I said, find a penny pick it up, all day long you’ll have good luck. I picked it up and put it in my sock and wore it all game.”

3. Brian Johnson, 2004-08

This third spot is the toughest to choose from but wins matter, so Johnson earns this spot.

Johnson was part of the 2004 year as Smith’s primary backup and did get significant playing time, but his biggest feat was leading the Utes to No. 2 in the country and dismantling Alabama, 31-17, in the Sugar Bowl during the 2008 season.

In that game, Johnson earned MVP honors en route to completing 27-of-41 passes for 336 yards and three touchdowns. He also was first-team All-Mountain West and the leagues offensive player of the year.

For his career, Johnson his second all-time in passing yards and passing touchdowns in Utah Utes history with 7,583 yards and 57 scores.

2. Cam Rising, 2020-24

To say that the prior two years of the Cam Rising era at Utah was a disappointment would be a massive understatement. 

The knee injury during the 2023 season was a major annoyance with how little even the coaching staff knew of Rising’s status. Then in 2024, he suffered an array of injuries that cut his season short.

Winning a pair of Pac-12 titles and going to the first Rose Bowl in school history in 2022, and then going back to the 'Grandaddy of Them All' the following year cements him as the No. 2 signal-caller in Utes history.

Rising in the only Ute quarterback to win back-to-back conference titles in a major league which included consecutive trips to the Rose Bowl.

The only way Rising could have ousted Smith is if the Utes were to live up to the preseason hype for 2024 and make the College Football Playoff.

He will have to settle for second.

1. Alex Smith, 2002-04

The top player has to be Smith and his two-year stint under Urban Meyer in what should be considered the second-best two-year stretch for Utah football.

Smith earned his first playing time in 2023 and it was by happenstance when starter Brett Elliott was injured. Never looking back, Smith finished that 2023 season with a Mountain West title and a 12-2 record.

2004 is when things really got going. Utah became the first-ever school to bust through the glass-ceiling and go to a BCS bowl game. This was at a time when a school outside of the power conference structure had to be ranked sixth or higher.

Utah rolled through a schedule that featured three schools from what was then-known as BCS leagues. Those wins came by double-digits over Texas A&M, Arizona, and North Carolina. 

The Utes averaged 45.3 points per game and beat every Mountain West Conference foe easily, with only two games coming within 20 points.

The season culminated with Smith being named Mountain West’s offensive player of the year, finishing fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting, and a visit against Pitt in the Fiesta Bowl which was another blow out win, 35-7.

Overall, Smith had a 21-1 record as Utah’s starting quarterback.