At Allegiant Stadium, site of two Utah Pac-12 titles, Cam Rising was back in the conference he began in

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LAS VEGAS — Back at Allegiant Stadium, the memories had to start coming back for Utah quarterback Cam Rising.

Some of the most memorable moments in Rising’s career happened here in Las Vegas during back-to-back Pac-12 championship wins.

The 11-yard touchdown toss to Dalton Kincaid, set up by a 29-yard pass to the Utah tight end, that put Utah up 20-0 en route to a dominant 38-10 win over Oregon to clinch the program’s first-ever Pac-12 title.

One year later, in the same building, Rising — on third-and-19 — threw a pass to Money Parks, who broke a couple of tackles and sprinted 57 yards to the end zone to break a 17-17 tie in the third quarter against USC. Utah would go on to beat the Trojans 47-24 to punch its second straight ticket to the Rose Bowl.

This time, though, Rising walked into the familiar stadium with a different conference logo on the sleeve of his Utah-branded polo.

At Tuesday’s Big 12 media days, the California native reflected on watching Pac-12 football growing up and said it’s “bittersweet” that the Utes are no longer in the league.

As Utah gears up for its inaugural season in the Big 12 Conference, Rising is back in the conference he started his college career in as a freshman with the Texas Longhorns in 2018.

Since then, a lot has changed.

Texas and Oklahoma, now members of the SEC, set off the most recent conference realignment cycle that resulted in the collapse of the Pac-12 and Utah’s entrance into the Big 12.

While Rising says the conference has a “different feel” to it after the departure of Texas and Oklahoma, and the additions of BYU, UCF, Cincinnati, Houston, Utah, Arizona, Arizona State and Colorado since his time in the Big 12, he admits it’s a little bit of a full-circle moment to end his college career.

“I think just having this new opportunity to come into a new conference, play new teams, some that I had the privilege of playing against at Texas, but just being able to go to different parts of the United States and really get to see that, take that challenge on,” Rising said.

One of those teams that Rising will play against for the first time is rival BYU. He’s been on the sidelines two times — in Utah’s 2019 win over the Cougars when he sat behind Tyler Huntley and in the Utes’ 2021 loss to BYU when Charlie Brewer was named the starter over him.

It’s safe to say that Rising is relishing the opportunity to face the Cougars in November at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

“I just want to go down there, whoop their (expletive) pretty much. That’s all I’m focused on,” Rising said.

The veteran Ute quarterback is the main reason why Utah — which went 8-4 in his absence last season amid a rash of injuries — was picked atop the Big 12 by the media.

Though he wasn’t voted to the only quarterback spot on the All-Big 12 preseason team — that honor went to Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, who is one of the top prospects in the 2025 NFL draft — Rising is one of the top signal-callers in the conference.

“Having Cam Rising back, that’s the biggest factor for us this season is to have Cam back at quarterback,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. “He’s the alpha dog of the football team, the unquestioned leader, and we got to keep him upright this year. We keep him upright, we got a really good chance.”

Whittingham said that Rising’s health is “as good as it can be right now,” and “barring unforeseen setbacks,” he’s ready to go.

Rising took every rep in spring practice — he wasn’t allowed to be tackled — and looked back to his old self in media viewing portions and the spring scrimmage. His injury rehabs over the last couple of years led him to take a look at what else he could improve with his body, including his throwing mechanics.

“I have actually worked on a lot of different mechanics and stuff that have been new to me and I think that has ultimately made me more accurate and more stable in a lot of situations, so I get the ball out faster,” Rising said. “That’s been the biggest growth, I think.”

Utah’s primary goal this season — winning the Big 12, which would clinch the school’s first-ever College Football Playoff appearance — hinge on the heath of their starting quarterback.

One of the most defining images from the 2022 Pac-12 championship win over USC was when Rising, chased out of the pocket by defensive lineman Nick Figueroa, tucked the ball to run and avoided the pursuing Figueroa.

As he sprinted toward the first-down marker, he was rocked by Trojan linebacker Ralen Goforth.

It was a big hit, and Rising’s helmet flew off before he hit the ground. But the Utah captain popped up right away, smiled and winked, and walked off under his own power.

As much as that moment fired up the Utes at the time, Whittingham is understandably trying to avoid any repeats of it during the 2024 season.

“Well, you got to make sure that he’s using good judgment,” Whittingham said.

“Now, he’s such a fierce competitor, that’s easier said than done, but yeah, there’s things we’ve already had conversations with taking some hits off him and not necessarily needing to get that extra yard when we don’t need it,” he continued. “There’s time and place, where you got to pick your spots, but you got to be smart, you got to be judicious when you carry the football about how many hits you take.”

When the game begins, though, Rising will do what it takes to win.

“It’s still football. You got to go out there and do whatever you got to do to win. That’s pretty much the only goal,” Rising said.

During Tuesday’s media day, a team from EA Sports, which is releasing a college football video game for the first time since 2013, was on hand to have players play as their digital avatars in the game.

Rising, who is being paid for the use of his name and likeness in the game, along with many of his Utah teammates, took a turn on the controller — throwing touchdowns to tight ends Brant Kuithe and Landen King.

“It was unreal how real it felt. Just seeing Rice-Eccles, seeing the MUSS go crazy, seeing my teammates and everything like that,” Rising said.

In just 50 days, Rising will put on his helmet and throw touchdowns at Rice-Eccles Stadium — in real life — after 605 days without competing in a college football game.

In case you missed it

Utah athletic director Mark Harlan talked about revenue sharing, Morgan Scalley succession plan, Big 12 transition, Craig Smith and more in a wide-ranging interview on Tuesday.

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Extra points

• What is the toughest stretch for each Big 12 football team this season? (Deseret News)
• What kind of pressure are Kalani Sitake and Kyle Whittingham feeling this season? (Deseret News)
• Utah football will face Miami in 2027 season opener (Deseret News)