Utah QB Battle ‘Neck-And-Neck’ As Fall Camp Enters Final Week

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Utah football will begin their third and final week of fall camp this week and the quarterback position is still up in the air.

Charlie Brewer and Cam Rising are fighting for the starting spot and neither player has separated themselves from the other.

“It’s gonna be a close competition I will tell you right now,” head coach Kyle Whittingham said. “It’s neck and neck. There is no timeline. Sooner rather than later. It’s so close right now that I can tell you that no decision will be made prior to the next scrimmage.”

Utah’s second and final scrimmage of fall camp will be on Saturday, August 21.

One thing is for certain, wide receiver Britain Covey is glad he isn’t making the decision.

“Gosh, I’m glad I don’t have to make that decision, because they’re both playing so well,” Covey said. “It’s just wonderful knowing that it’s not a competition where we’re searching for a quarterback, you’re just desperate to find one, it’s one where you’ve got two great guys, and that they are both performing at a high level. We’re gonna have one of the best backup quarterbacks in the country. That’s all I know, I don’t know who the guy is gonna be yet, but I know that we’re gonna have two great options.”

Kyle Whittingham has been glowing about Tavion Thomas and Theo Howard all camp long.

Also, this QB battle will be going on longer than many of you hoped for.#GoUtes @kslsports

— Trevor Allen (@TrevorASports) August 14, 2021

The guy that will be snapping the ball to the quarterback this season is Nick Ford. He sees a lot of similarities between the two QB’s battling for the starting job.

“They’re very, very similar in terms of controlling the offense,” Ford said. “Charlie’s opened up to the team, he’s a funny guy. He’s kind of a sneaky funny like coach Lud (Andy Ludwig). Cam has been around, he’s funny as hell. They both run well, throw well, I mean, it was a couple of days ago when I was watching film and I was like, ‘wait, oh, I don’t even remember Cam just had surgery,’ like he was slinging the ball all over the place.”

It will be a big week for Brewer and Rising as they try to snatch the starting job ahead of the season opener.

Utah will open the 2021 season on Thursday, September 2 at Rice-Eccles Stadium against Weber State.

Trevor Allen is a Utah Utes Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Crimson Corner podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @TrevorASports. You can download and listen to the podcast, here.

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