‘We have a lot of confidence in him’: Coaches believe in Isaac Wilson if he starts against USU

Utah Utes quarterback Isaac Wilson passes against Baylor play at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Saturday, September 7, 2024. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

For the second week in a row, Isaac Wilson was in the game before the first half was over.

In the season opener against Southern Utah, the four-star freshman quarterback took the field after Cam Rising went to the bench following a career-high five-touchdown performance.

On Saturday vs. Baylor, the circumstances were much different.

Rising was tackled into a Gatorade cooler on Baylor’s sideline minutes before the end of the first half, injuring his throwing hand, and missed the rest of the game. Later, Utah’s starting quarterback was seen with his middle and ring fingers taped together as he watched the rest of the game from the sideline.

As soon as Rising went to the sidelines, then the locker room, to have his hand checked out, Wilson took a moment to ground himself before heading onto the Rice-Eccles Stadium turf.

“At that point, I got to stay calm, cool, and collected. I got to trust in my teammates,” Wilson said. “My teammates got to trust in me and like (offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig) always says, take care of the ball and great things will happen.”

Rice-Eccles Stadium, which was happy and buzzing after Utah scored 23 unanswered points, deflated when Rising went to the locker room and the offensive play in the second half didn’t help matters.

“We were doing some really good things and then Cam went out and everything kind of deflated, which was disappointing,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. “Exact opposite should happen. If you lose a key player, then everyone else needs to pick up their game and pick up the slack. It’s not just on Isaac Wilson to come in and pick it up, it’s everyone around them.”

It wasn’t a banner…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/lot-confidence-him-coaches-believe-224144499.html

Author : Deseret News

Publish date : 2024-09-10 22:41:44

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