Evaluating the impact of Cam Rising's status for Week 1 game between Florida, Utah

College football fans rejoice as they get a part two of one of Week 1’s most exciting matchups from last season, as Florida and Utah will square off yet again to open up the 2023 college football season.

Utah quarterback Cam Rising suffered a torn ACL injury in the team’s Rose Bowl matchup to end the season last year, and On3’s JD PicKell explained why his status for the Utes rematch with the Gators is crucial for both teams ahead of Week 1.

“My big question, and a big question for a lot of people going into this game, at the time of us recording this right now Sunday morning. What’s going on with Cam Rising?” PicKell asked. “On the depth chart right now Utah has him as the starting quarterback.

“But I was talking last night to Aaron Murray, we were doing their show, and I thought he brought up a really great point. Even if you have Cam Rising in the lineup coming off a knee injury like that, what version of him are you getting in this kind of game?”

Rising has had a prolific career at Utah, throwing for over 5,000 yards and 40 touchdowns in his two seasons as the team’s starting quarterback, leading the Utes to back-to-back Pac-12 championship wins. But PicKell explained why his style of play combined with his injury could raise concerns for Utah’s offensive attack.

“Because Cam Rising, as much as he does through the air, his legs have been a big part of their offense in recent history. So having him be limited there, you’d imagine he’s limited there as he’s getting back into things. Like that makes me a little bit nervous if I’m a Utah fan,” PicKell explained.

“And if there’s no Cam Rising at all, let’s just say for whatever reason Cam Rising isn’t all the way back, it’s a tough injury to come off of. If he’s not able to go in this game, what do you have behind him? What does your offense look like?”

PicKell also explained how a hobbled Rising or no Rising at all impacts the Gators, as they’re looking to break in a new starting quarterback and answer some big questions in their second season under head coach Billy Napier.

“Because the hope in this game for Utah would be that they can put pressure on Florida’s offense by scoring points offensively. Kind of a ‘no duh’ statement but with Florida, a lot of questions about Graham Mertz and a lot of questions about what they’re going to be at the skill positions, at wide receiver,” PicKell said.

“There’s a lot of questions about can they match us if we play how we’re supposed to play from an offensive production standpoint if we have our quarterback, and that’s the big if, if we have our quarterback.”

Any hindrance to the quarterback position for Utah could definitely work in the favor of the Gators, as they enter the matchup as 6.5-point underdogs on the road.

“Because if Utah isn’t able to look how they expect to look offensively, if you are playing a backup quarterback, and let’s say Florida gets up. They kind of do-si-do you and they go up 13-0, it’s the end of the first quarter, it’s midway through the second quarter and it’s 13-0. If you’re Utah and you’r struggling to score offensively, well then the whole script flips on you and then Florida with how they want to run the football, they can dictate terms to you at your house if you’re a Utah fan,” PicKell concluded.

The Gators and Utes square off this Thursday in Salt Lake City at 8 p.m. ET in a matchup airing on ESPN.