Cam Rising is the GOAT and a U Icon

[Yergensen]

If Cam never plays another down for us, which I believe he’s doing everything possible to do, he will go down in my book as the GOAT.

Two P12 championships in two tries. His play and leadership elevated teams and the program to new heights.

Long hair, jumbo helmet, stiff arming tacklers to make that extra yard and getting up smiling after taking a hit. He is equal parts QB, LB and on field general. He is a Utah football icon.

Proud to be a Utah fan and a Cam Rising fan.

[chinngiskhaan]

The Goat? Nah. He’s great. I have no issues with Cam. His is not the GOAT. Huntley was just as good or better, and he isn’t the goat either.

[AlohaUte]

He’s higher on the pecking order than Huntley IMO. I love Huntley, this is no slight on him at all, but simply Cam leading us to two P12 Championships and two Rose Bowls. If I were ranking my greatest all time Ute QB’s (based on resume and impact-not necessarily target), I’d probably have:

1a. Cam
1b. Alex
3. Brian
4. Snoop

[22Ute22]

It’s not Huntley’s fault that his O-line sucked.

[Xanthis]

Agreed. Snoop is / was the better QB, but he never had the talent around him like the past 2 seasons had. Rising has been phenomenal and he got to play with Lloyd, Kuithe, Kincaid, CP3, as well as some of the best OL Utah has had, etc.

[lgt4141]

Rising led the Utes to two PAC 12 championships. No QB at Utah since Brian Johnson led the Utes to a conference championship. If winning is what ultimately matters in football Cam is the Goat. Huntley is one of the best but Rising did something Huntley couldn’t..

[RedUte14]

it’s a team sport… cam did not win those alone.
it’s hard to compare.

i believe huntley is/was better.

[RoboUte]

The stats will tell you Huntley is better as well. That and the fact the Huntely is an NFL quarterback and frankly Cam’s never going to achieve that. I think it’s clear that Huntley is technically the better QB.

But based on rings, which does matter, Cam has a resume none in our history can match. But it’s also short sighted to think Cam did that in a vaccuum. Not only did Cam benefit from being on relatively better teams than Huntley, they both benefited from the progress everyone before them made to turn Utah into what it is today.

Given Cam’s teams Alex Smith very well might’ve given us a natty.

1. Alex Smith
2. Tyler Huntley
3. Cam Rising
4. Brian Johnson

[The Miami Ute]

If we’re talking purely about talent, then Scott Mitchell has to be on the list. He was a legit NFL QB until injuries took their toll and completely abbreviated his career.

[RoboUte]

I can’t say otherwise. He’s well well before my time so I’m unequipped to speak about him with any depth.

[The Miami Ute]

Here you go:

Scott Mitchell

[RoboUte]

Damn. I had no idea. That guy is on another level, only Smith is even comparable. He sort of had a goofy throwing motion like someone throwing a ball that was too big for their hand but it clearly didn’t hold him back much.

[The Miami Ute]

He was a stud…I was fortunate to see him play a few games live for Miami in 1993 when Marino tore his Achilles at the start of that season. Crazy how a guy that was so good gets little press nowadays. And somebody actually downvoted this comment…LOL…

[2008 National Champ]

At the risk of blaspheming, there’s a case to be made that Scott Mitchell wouldn’t get an offer from Utah if he was a current HS senior. 6’6″, 250, not a dual threat. Of the 3 Robo listed, Rising is the biggest at 6-2, 220 and mobile. The Golden Boy’s arm talent was indisputed but his body type and skillset is not in evidence in top FBS programs today.

Cammon Cooper is the closest comp I can come up with for a tall, immobile left-hander from the state of Utah in recent memory and he went to WSU without a Utah or parochial school offer. Cooper was 2″ shorter and 40 pounds lighter than Mitchell and certainly not as decorated in HS. Still, chances are Utah takes a pass and Mitchell ends up at the parochial school.

[The Miami Ute]

I find it hilarious that someone actually downvoted a video of an all-time Utah great. I love the Utes but some of their fans, like all fanbases, are just bush.

Regarding Mitchell’s college prospects, you’re probably right (to Utah’s loss). That being said, Mitchell had the size and arm strength of a proto-typical NFL QB (and he wasn’t a statue either). Based on that, it wouldn’t surprise me that, if a guy with Mitchell’s characteristics played today, he’d easily find his way into the 1st RD.

[2008 National Champ]

Albus Dumbledore was correct: People find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right.

You are getting downvoted because it’s easier to double down while staying anonymous than admit that you and others were right all the way back to before Spring ball that it was a possibility Rising wouldn’t be ready for the season and that the staff should be doing everything possible to mitigate that possibility. So you get the pleasure of being downvoted twice by the same people, once on each of your original posts on the subject and now that it has become real. Revel in the knowledge that you weren’t blind to what was going on because it has to more satisfying than “Boo, you were right. I’m going to click down on all your posts. That’ll show you for being right when I didn’t want you to be!” I’ve often said that downvotes are a badge of honor as long as you aren’t deliberately being a jerk.

Mitchell, other than being left-handed, was the prototype for the 1990’s NFL QB. DJU is close to the biggest college QB playing today and he is an anomaly. Bryce Young, Mayfield, Murray, Stroud, Mahomes.,, all smaller guys than Mitchell who are able to hurt you every time they have the ball in their hands instead of just on the long ball. It’s a different game in the league since they’ve started mirroring how colleges get the job done on offense.

[Charlie]

You need to see a player play the games and be present to relate to the context of the day to take a stab at comparing different decades. You need an old timer that saw all of these QBs play. For context, Mitchell was very much a stud. You could consider them all 1a,1b,1c… All very good with different sets of strengths.

[2008 National Champ]

Mitchell against the parochial school 1988. Shotgun snap, good protection, Carl Harry streaking (running fast, not without clothes hee-hee), Mitchell uncorking a pass that had roughly the same trajectory as a Ray Guy punt and lands just past Harry’s reach. Not to be undone, Utah comes back to the same play later in the game and this time a diving Harry catches it for a 48 yard gain.

With Mitchell’s arm and Utah’s pass to run offense, you would never see a team crowd the line like UCLA/OSU did the last two weeks.

[SkinyUte]

Alex is the Utah GOAT.

How is this even a question?

[Brettski]

My GOAT is Weddle. Hands down.

[AlohaUte]

This is the correct answer.

[Yergensen]

I won’t argue against Alex Smith who was 2 for 2 in G5 championships and undefeated Fiesta Bowl season. He helped elevate the program under those circumstances. Cam similarly helped elevate the program under different P5 circumstances. What both did was unprecedented. So, I won’t argue against Alex Smith, but it is at least debatable with my preference being Cam.

[RoboUte]

Technically what Cam did was not unprecedented. TCU, a former G5 like us, had already won the Big 12 several years prior(2014). Alex Smith led The Original BCS Busters, a distinction none but Utah can ever claim. That changed the sport, paving the way for the BSUs, TCUs, and UCFs to come. Winning the Pac 12, while cool. Is not even close to the same level of significance at the level of college football as a landscape, even though it’s arguably more impressive on an individual team level.

[Yergensen]

Hey Robo, what I meant to say is 2 P12 championships were unprecedented for us.

[RoboUte]

Well look at us now!

[hbUte]

The GOAT Ute QB is Alex Smith, no question at all!

[Utah]

I don’t know if we are the only fanbase that does this, well I know BYU does it as well…so I don’t know if this is a Utah thing or what, but it’s weird.

Cam is good. Really good. And he got hurt. And he hasn’t played yet. And Whitt thinks he should have. And Cam thinks he shouldn’t have.

That’s it. We don’t have to do these grand gestures of loyalty. It’s a f**ked up siltuation. It sounds like there was a breakdown of communication somewhere along the lines and no matter whose fault it is, Whitt thought Cam would be playing by now and is p**sed in how this has gone.

Cam isn’t the greatest QB to play at Utah. That’s just silly.

Alex Smith was a lot better. Scott Mitchell was a lot better. Pro Bowl QB Tyler Huntley was a lot better.

Cam isn’t as good as those three and to say otherwise is insulting to them.

I can enjoy Cam, have strong feelings of like for Cam, be glad he was here, enjoyed his years here AND be p**sed that it appears that he may not have been as upfront with Utah so that Utah didn’t go after a transfer QB.

[The Miami Ute]

That order is pretty much the way I see it. I also think that you almost have to make room somewhere in the Top 5 for Mike McCoy as well. I can’t get too mad at the people posting here because the vast majority of them never saw Mitchell or McCoy play. If they had, they’d probably think differently.

[Utah]

Agreed. There is two debates here: top 3. The debate is between Mitchell, Smith and Huntley.

Then top 5. And Wilson, McCoy and Rising are the debate for the 4 and 5 spots.