Utah star QB Rising to return for senior year
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Paolo UggettiESPN
After leading Utah to back-to-back Pac-12 championships and two Rose Bowl appearances, starting quarterback Cam Rising announced on Monday that he will be returning to Salt Lake City for his senior season.
“Let’s run it back,” Rising said on Twitter, with an accompanying video signaling his return.
Let’s run it back! pic.twitter.com/eADdZqnwAE
— Cameron Rising (@crising7) January 9, 2023
This past season, Rising built on his breakout sophomore campaign with a strong junior year in which he threw for over 3,000 yards and 26 touchdowns to go along with 465 yards on the ground and six rushing touchdowns. His QBR of 83.0 was one of the 10 best in the nation.
The impact Rising has had on this Utes team goes beyond the numbers. The 6-foot-2, 218-pound quarterback has become the team’s leader over the past two years, as it has put together consecutive seasons as the best team in the conference. While USC held most of the attention in the Pac-12 this season, Rising helped Utah beat the Trojans twice — the second time was a commanding 47-24 victory in the conference title game.
Injuries have ailed Rising a bit, especially in bowl games. For the second year in a row, Rising had to exit the Rose Bowl game due to an injury. The Utes could not overcome his absence and lost to Penn State — the second Big Ten opponent they’ve failed to beat in the game.
Utah got more good news on Monday, with tight end Brant Kuithe announcing his plan to return. Kuithe, who has been a second-team All-Pac-12 selection three times, suffered a season-ending injury in late September.
Rising’s return to school for one more season further crystallizes what’s set to be an all-time quarterback season for the Pac-12. USC’s Caleb Williams will suit up for his Heisman-year encore, while Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. and Oregon’s Bo Nix are both returning as well and will be joined by DJ Uiagalelei, who transferred to Oregon State.
Among the conference’s other standouts under center are Arizona’s Jayden de Laura, Washington State’s Cameron Ward, UCLA’s Collin Schlee, former Notre Dame quarterback Drew Pyne at Arizona State and Deion Sanders’ son Shedeur in Boulder.
The defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers are rolling. The Carolina Hurricanes are reeling.
Sam Bennett scored one of his two goals in Florida’s three-goal first period, Sergei Bobrovsky made 17 saves, and the Panthers beat the Hurricanes 5-0 on Thursday night to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.
Gustav Forsling and Matthew Tkachuk also scored in another tone-setting opening 20 minutes for the Panthers, while Carter Verhaeghe had three assists in the win.
“It might have been natural for us to take a little bit to get going tonight, and it was the exact opposite,” said Tkachuk, whose putaway off the feed from Verhaeghe at the crease marked his first goal since Game 3 of the first round against the Tampa Bay Lightning. “It was an unreal start from us. The goals aside, just the way we played in the first period was as good as it gets. Yeah, that’s just a hell of a road trip.”
Florida had already ripped home-ice advantage away Tuesday night with a 5-2 win, the opener in a rematch of the 2023 conference finals swept by the Panthers with four one-goal wins. Florida tightened its grip on the series with this one and now heads back south to host Game 3 on Saturday night.
Bennett scored a second time by skating in to clean up an attempt at the right post in the final minute of the second period to make it 4-0, ending a long shift in Carolina’s end prolonged by Hurricanes defenseman Brent Burns being stuck on the ice after breaking his stick. Aleksander Barkov added a goal midway through the third as punctuation.
Bobrovsky had his third shutout of the playoffs this year and the sixth of his career, with Florida’s defense smothering a Carolina team that typically peppers the net with shots but found little daylight.
Florida has won four straight road games by a combined score of 22-4, this time sending Hurricanes fans fleeing for the exits early.
“It’s fun when you’re on the road and it goes quiet,” Verhaeghe said. “It feels like we’re doing our job.”
It wasn’t all great news for Florida. Veteran forward Sam Reinhart was knocked from the game in the first period after taking a hit from Sebastian Aho in the left leg, causing Reinhart’s knee to bend awkwardly.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice said after the game that Reinhart would be evaluated Friday and that there would be no update on Reinhart’s status until Saturday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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