Significant Night For Utah Football As Cam Rising, Brant Kuithe Return

SALT LAKE CITY – Game Day has officially arrived and Utah Football will take the field later this evening. Utah will welcome the Southern Utah Thunderbirds to Rice Eccles Stadium to kick off their 2024 season.

This year’s opener doesn’t have the same oomph behind it as last season. The T-Birds of Southern Utah are simply nowhere near the same caliber of program as the Florida Gators. It was a historic matchup and setting, one that lived up to the hype for Utah fans.

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That level of anticipation and excitement isn’t matched by the game Utah will play tonight. This is a typical FBS vs FCS matchup, where the two teams are just on uneven playing fields in terms of talent. This is a tune-up game and one Utah should win comfortably, while SUU takes home a nice paycheck.

However, this game still has a lot of importance to it. Tonight will serve as the official return of Utah starting quarterback Cam Rising and tight end Brant Kuithe.

Cam Rising, Brant Kuithe, just excited to be back

These two missed all of last season, while Kuithe missed most of 2022 as well. It’s been a long time since these two suited up for Utah but that ends tonight.

“Excited,” Rising said of how he’s feeling about the game. “Just getting back on the field, that first snap, that first time saying, ‘set, go!’ and getting the ball right there. Just chomping at the bit to get back out there”

In the top spot for the third consecutive season, @utah_football quarterback Cam Rising rounds out the 2024 60 in 60 list.#60in60 #GoUtes @975Hans @ScottyGZone @KSLSportsZone pic.twitter.com/rQfgSSSCWq

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) August 29, 2024

Kuithe shared a similar sentiment, in the sense that this moment has been a long time coming for him and Rising. Simply just getting back on the field will be an exciting and relieving moment.

“Feels good, I’m just ready,” Kuithe said. “Just running out there, it’ll feel good, I’ll probably be a little nervous but once that first goes, I’ll feel good and right at home.”

Rising, Kuithe feel good about the Utah Football offense

The two also shared similar thoughts on the offense in general. It seems this year’s offense could pretty potent with the additions the program has made. Kuithe feels particularly good about the tight end room.

“We have a lot of talent- a lot of guys who can do a lot of different things,” Kuithe said of the tight end room. “I think that will show on Thursday and then just game after game. It will be awesome to see how teams personnel against us.”

“It’s going to be awesome, I don’t think we’re going to be running as much, which is great for me. I think all around, we have so many players, a lot of people are going to be getting involved. It’s going be interesting to see how that goes, yeah, it’s going to be fun,” Brant Kuithe on how he describes the offense this season.

Rising feels the entire offense has multiple options at tight end, receiver, and running back.

“Having depth and multiple guys that can go in and make big plays,” Rising said of the offensive makeover. “When you have that- it usually makes you feel like you can run any play you want at any time. Having that ability is going to be special.”

How these two look to shake off the rust

For Kuithe, this return has been a much longer process. He suffered his injury in week four of the 2022 season. The rust will be there, which is why he’s looking forward to the action.

“I haven’t played in two years, so it’s going to be a little different going out and playing a live game,” “It’s going to be fun to get out there, get tackled a little bit, it’s going to feel good to actually get hit.”

Coming in at #2 on this year's #60in60 list… @Brantkuithe14 #GoUtes | @975Hans | @ScottyGZone pic.twitter.com/kPlk3NZzQE

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) August 29, 2024

As for Rising, there’s been a lot of discussion about his mobility. Coach Whittingham shared that they’ve had discussions with him about being smart and picking his spots carefully. When asked about how he’s adjusted his mindset to account for that, Rising isn’t worried.

“Just go out there and play some football, that’s about it,” he said pretty succinctly.

It’s not about getting the backups in the game, it’s about executing

“I don’t really like to focus on that,” Rising said of a potential pitch count, and perhaps focus on getting backups into the game. “We’ve got to go out there and score a lot of points in order for that to happen. We’ve got to be focused on what we need to handle first. Then if we can get everybody in, that’d be great, but (a pitch count) is not our focus.”

Kuithe feels that a successful night will ultimately result in those backups getting into the game.

“Just playing all-around football, honestly, scoring a lot of points and making sure their offense doesn’t score,” Kuithe said of how he’d judge a good or bad night. “Getting everybody playing time because after this we can’t really afford to do that.”

Getting these two back on the field is rather significant for Utah Football. These two have contributed to so many great moments over the years. They will be key to potentially adding more this season.

Utah Football Schedule

Utah will kick off the season against Southern Utah on August 29. You can find Utah football’s conference schedule here.

Steve Bartle is the Utah insider for KSL Sports. He hosts The Utah Blockcast (SUBSCRIBE) and appears on KSL Sports Zone to break down the Utes. You can follow him on X for the latest Utah updates and game analysis.

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