Florida Football: Cam Rising in race against time to play against Gators

Last year, Florida football fans became well-anointed with Utah QB Cam Rising. His passing numbers were decent, going 22 for 32 for 216 yards and one touchdown.

He also had one interception you may or may not remember.

The real threat with Rising, though, comes from his legs, and after a gruesome injury in the Rose Bowl, all eyes have been on whether or not the Utah QB will be ready on August 31.

Florida Football: Tick tock of the clock

In last year’s contest, Rising ran seven times for 91 yards. His running ability is a massive reason why Utah had the 12th-lowest sack percentage against last season. Utah only took a sack on 3.25% of passing plays.

But during the Rose Bowl last season against Penn State, Rising tore his ACL.

That happened on January 2, and Florida plays Utah on August 31.

That’s 241 days for anyone keeping count.

According to the Cleveland Clinic:

"“It usually takes six to nine months to recover from a torn ACL. Competitive athletes may need a little longer than this to heal fully before they’re cleared to return to their sport.”"

Rising is a competitive athlete and has 27 days left to be healed.

Rising and the rest of the Utah camp have stated all offseason that he is “right on schedule,” and this week, when head coach Kyle Whittingham was asked for an update, he stated “He’s practicing, but he’ll have limitations. That’ll pretty much be the report for at least a couple weeks — practicing with limitations.”

Utah did post a video of Rising on the field throwing the ball, and he could very well get to a place where he could take the field on August 31.

The grand mystery, however, and the talking point that will consume the preview to this game in the coming weeks is whether Rising takes the field with the ability to run or not.

Because if you take away the legs of Rising, he loses a major component of what makes him one of the top QBs in college when healthy. Imagine Anthony Richardson if he didn’t have the ability to run.

It’s bound to be a Scooby Doo like mystery for Florida football heading into Salt Lake City, and it will be the job of Austin Armstrong to be prepared for whomever the Utes put under center.