5th String QB

[HATUman]

How often do you hear about a team starting their 5th string quarterback? It’s one of the rarest things in football, and yet, here we are. As a Utah fan, I’m still wrapping my head around the fact that we had to do this last year (2023) and might have to do it again this season. It’s honestly kind of wild and also super frustrating to see how fast we go through quarterbacks.

Utah’s quarterback injury history over the last decade feels like a curse:
• 2014: Travis Wilson goes down, and we end up playing Kendal Thompson.
• 2018: Tyler Huntley gets hurt late, and Jason Shelley has to step in for critical games.
• 2021: Charlie Brewer starts, quits the team, and Cam Rising fights through early injuries to eventually take over.
• 2022: Rising plays hurt most of the year and tears his ACL in the Rose Bowl.
• 2023: Rising is out all year recovering from that ACL, and we shuffle through Nate Johnson, Bryson Barnes, and even walk-ons.

Now, 2024 is looking like déjà vu. It’s honestly disturbing how fast we seem to burn through quarterbacks. Is it bad luck? Depth issues? Scheme? I don’t know, but it’s brutal to watch.

Have any other teams had to start a 5th string QB in college football? I know it’s incredibly rare, but I’d love to hear about it if you’ve got examples. Let’s commiserate.

[Tony (admin)]

I’d like to see a chart or some statistics comparing Utah Football injuries to other teams.

[USS Utah]

I recall TDS starting a 4th string QB in a bowl game in 1992. The third string QB had been injured late in the rivalry game at Rice Stadium (in a play that Zoobs quickly labeled as dirty).

[Red Rhino]

Two years in a row now.

Last year:

Rising Injured
Rose injured
Barns Injured

I guess that’s 4th string last year, but still that is crazy enough to not be coincidence.

Too many qb designed runs and poor OL protection. Our QBs also don’t slide like they should.

[Hamburger-Gravy]

Wasn’t Nate Johnson injured as well? That would’ve made Bottari 5th String against CU last year.

[SteelUte]

Nate may have been injured at some point last season, but if I recall correctly Bottari started due to Barnes being injured and Nate Johnson had left the program for the portal at that point. Hope he’s getting playing time wherever he is.

[DataUte]

He’s not. Backup at Vandy

[Red Rhino]

You’re right. Nate Johnson was injured so that does make 5th string two years in a row.

[RedRocks]

I’d really like to know why Utah has so many injuries lately, especially quarterbacks.

Some like to blame the turf, but many teams play on turf. Some like to blame Under Armor, but there are other teams that use Under Armor.

Having seen some of the injuries on video, there doesn’t really seem to be anything unusual. Cam Risings latest injury looked painful as the defender kind of caused him to roll up on himself (backwards). Isaac Wilson’s injury also looked painful as he seemed to land awkwardly and get tackled by a defender who appeared to try and gator-roll him.

[noneyadb]

Utah requires a mobile QB to make plays with his legs. I think most QB injuries occurred behind the LOS though, so maybe it’s more of a personnel and coaching issue than a field, or equipment problem.

[DataUte]

I think it’s not 1 thing. I think it’s the combination of turf, strength and conditioning, UA, scheme, altitude, Whit apparently sold something to the devil, and perhaps fluoride in the water ;). These fellas just aren’t living right off the field. I mean, MB with the scooter accident last year that kept him out? Brandon Rose with a lacerated liver last year? Someone break out the curse breaking good juju! It’s only crazy if it didn’t work.

sarcasm meter now de-activated

[Trailgoat]

The three maybe four (Wilson tbd?) QB injuries needing surgery in the same season has to be a record. Never seen anything like it. Expect to see Huard, Wilson, and Rose head to the transfer portal on 12/9 or soon after.

[Red Rhino]

A typical team will experience 3 season ending injuries each year. We have more than that at QB alone.

I mentioned this a few weeks ago, that accelerated muscle development can create increased torque that tendons are unprepared to support. The same holds true for quick weight gain. A staple of a KW team has been shifting players into positions that they will be more successful in such as moving safeties to LB’s or LB’s to DE’s. Often players are asked to gain weight and muscle quickly in order to compete at the new position. This happens within all teams, but more often in KW teams. I am not a medical professional but this would help to explain some of the extra injuries we seem to have. I haven’t done the research but it would be interesting to see what percentage of players who changed positions experienced leg injuries.

[DataUte]

None of the qbs changed positions nor put on a lot of weight (like to be a LB or TE). But this could be true of some of the other position players. That comes back to strength and conditioning (and flexibility). Cue TB12 Tom Brady …

[traviswilsons1fan]

I do recall Tyler Huntley being asked to put on 25 pounds of muscle in one offseason. But his injuries were always random. Collarbone and a couple of foot problems if I remember correctly. Really interesting point

[jshame17]

<p foot issues and rapid weight gain are common, IIRC..

[Rick Walker]

Huntley was always his ankle, I always said he was best when his ankle was a little banged up and he was forced to throw instead of run lol.

[stubbornute]

Perhaps the injuries come from running qbs to hard. We need an offense that works better with them.

[BD]

The probability of using a 5th string QB in a season is small. The likelihood of using a 5th string QB in consecutive seasons is small multiplied by small (I guess?).

For example, if the probability is one percent that a 5th string QB is used in a season (I have no idea if that one percent is correct or not), then the probability is 1 in 10,000 for consecutive seasons (I guess?).

I have no idea if my math/logic is correct, but suffice it to say it is astronomical odds of this happening.

[HATUman]

Only at Utah

[Red Rhino]

Also Jordan Wynn medically retired.

[AZUTE]

A team starting its 5th string QB due to injury is rare. A team doing it for the second year in a row never happens.

It’s unprecedented I’ve never seen it ever

[belli1976]

Didn’t Rose get hit so hard in practice that he had some sort of internal organ issue last year?

Seems like if you have scholly QB you might protect them better.

[Tony (admin)]

I think it was a lacerated liver

[jshame17]

Even better, Lacerated liver from landing on the football after getting tackled.

A play that has happened 1,000s of times in his life.

[Uteanooga]

Injuries are very common in college football. It is a violent game predicated on collisions. Here is an analysis of just how common injuries were in 2021- published just before the beginning of our reign of terror.

Study: College Football Injury Overview

Some highlights:

1- TN tops the list with 83 injuries. That is a lot of dang injuries in a single season. Not surprisingly, they were not very good that season playing against elite programs with backups to backups.

2- Utah is no where to be seen on this list because Utah stayed relatively healthy. Oregon is on the list at #5 which undoubtedly helped us beat them to with the P12 championship.

3- Utah’s coaching/strength and conditioning strategies were probably the same at that point as during the bad years- at least I have not seen anything indicating that there were wholesale changes.

So what gives? Probabilities catch up and regression towards the mean is real. Utah has never been an elite-recruiting school and probably never will. Utah has punched above its weight for a long time. Beating teams who recruit in the top 5 or 10 with classes ranked in the 30s is not sustainable. Weaker depth is exposed by injuries. Injuries are inevitable in violent sports. You have to be realistic about these things- or I suppose you could just be angry and bitter about it.

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