Cam Rising Retirement: Why Was He Allowed 8th Year of College Football Eligibility?

The norm for college football players to go pro is usually after 4, or maybe 5, years of proper game time. NFL teams want to pick out athletes young so that they can mold them to their requirements. But eight years? That’s a bit much. That will be the case for Utah‘s Cameron Rising, who will, unfortunately, never get to go pro.

Rising is 25 years old at the moment. But in his tenured career, the QB saw three redshirt years, replete with injuries. It is a career-ending finger injury he suffered early last season against Baylor that is now forcing him to medically retire. “I’ve been advised by two orthopedic physicians that I will never be able to return to playing football,” Rising wrote in a statement. He is also seeking further medical opinion to treat the injury. But for now, it’s the end of the road for him. “In the meantime, I will unfortunately be forced to medically retire from the game I love,” he added.

Rising faced some unique situations in his career, which enabled him to stay twice as long in CFB compared to his younger batchmates. He and all other Division I players got an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Then came another free year by way of the NCAA, which Rising used as well.

In essence, Rising has only 3 years of proper game time. But in his 8 years, he has a total of 6,127 yards, 53 TDs, and a pass completion rating of 63%. A key reason for his additional years is the NCAA lawsuit against the Justice Department, which would return a year of college eligibility to players mandated to sit out a season because of the transfer eligibility rule during or since the 2019-20 academic year.

Rising, in his long career, led Utah to a Big 12 championship appearance, and his most memorable game was the 2022 win over USC. He will go down as an important chapter in program history, even though his future dreams in football ended abruptly.

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