NEW YORK, N.Y. – University of Utah Football quarterback Cameron Rising and tight end Brant Kuithe have been named to the 2024 Comeback Player of the Year Award Watch List, announced today by the College Sports Communicators and Associated Press.
The duo are two of 90 football student-athletes from 68 different schools named to the preseason list. Rising and Kuithe are also two of 12 players representing the Big 12.
Rising enters the 2024 season with 15 career games with 200+ passing yards, including two 300-yard games and one 400-yard game. In back-to-back seasons (2021, 2022), Rising ranked in the top-10 in ESPN's QBR Rating, including a No. 6 rating in 2021.
In just 27 career games (25 starts), Rising already ranks in the top-10 all-time at Utah in career completions (7th, 456), touchdown passes (T-6th, 46) and passing yards (7th, 5,572). He also ranks third all-time in career passing efficiency (147.38) and is fourth in completion percentage (.641).
Rising was a semifinalist for the Maxwell Award in 2022 along with the Davey O'Brien Award after being named All-Pac-12 and the MVP of the Pac-12 title game. He is a two-time all-conference selection, earning first-team in 2021, holding an overall win record of 18-6, which is tied for fifth all-time at Utah.
Kuithe, a three-time All-Pac-12 tight end, will make his debut in the Big 12 this season with the rest of the Utes. The Katy, Texas, native will enter the season leading all active FBS tight ends in career receptions (148), receiving yards (1,882) and receiving touchdowns (16).
He has played in 51 career games with 26 starts, catching at least one pass in 32 straight games that he has appeared in. He has 30 career games with three-or-more catches, leading Utah in receptions in 2019 and 2020.
Battling back from injury, Kuithe is primed to be the top tight end in the FBS this season. In his last full season in 2021, Kuithe led the Utes in receiving yards with 611 on 50 catches, scoring six touchdowns.
