Rising plays in Utah's spring football game
Cam Rising is right on schedule in his comeback from a severe knee injury.
Rising led the offense for three series in Utah's spring football game Saturday. The senior quarterback had a strong outing in his first live game since sitting out the entire 2023 season, throwing for 208 yards and two touchdowns while completing 15 of 19 passes.
He led the Red squad to a 41-21 victory over the White.
“Feeling strong,” Rising said. “(I have) been accruing a lot of reps and it's good to be out there with the guys making plays and watching them go.”
Rising will give Utah valuable veteran leadership in the team's Big 12 debut after leading the Utes to Pac-12 titles in 2021 and 2022.
Entering his sixth season with the Utes, Rising has a deep familiarity with offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig's offense. He has 25 career starts at Utah and has accrued at least 200 passing yards in 15 games – including two 300-yard games and one 400-yard-performance.
“I definitely feel like I got the doctorate,” Rising joked. “Six years to prove it, so it's been good.”
Iameleava takes the lead for Tennessee
The Nico Iamaleava era finally has arrived at Tennessee.
Sure, the No. 2 quarterback in the 2023 recruiting class debuted in the Vols' rout of Iowa in the Citrus Bowl. Now the quarterback capped Tennessee's spring practice by giving fans a glimpse of how much he's grown before the season opener Aug. 31 against Chattanooga.
“I know what I came here to do, and it's my job to go get that done,” said Iamaleava, a product of Warren High.
He's the first quarterback that coach Josh Heupel signed out of high school to run his up-tempo offense at Tennessee. Iamaleava arrived on campus in December 2022 to start learning behind Joe Milton, redshirting after playing in five games in 2023.
When Milton opted out of the bowl game, Iamaleava
took over as Tennessee's starter. He ran for three touchdowns and threw for another score in a 35-0 rout that helped the Vols finish the 2023 season ranked No. 17.
The native of Long Beach has the size at 6-foot-6 and a strong right arm. His legs make him a threat to run, and Iamaleava ranked behind only Arch Manning among quarterbacks and third overall in 247Sports. com's composite rankings for 2023.
Manning signing with Texas was closely watched because of his family name as the grandson of Archie Manning and nephew of Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback and Tennessee alum Peyton Manning and two-time Super Bowl champ Eli Manning.