Texas Football: 5 former Longhorns finding success elsewhere in 2021

Cameron Rising, Utah QB

There’s no way that you can go talk about some of the most prominent and successful former Longhorn transfers this year and not mention the former blue-chip recruit and Utah Utes 6-foot-2 and 220-pound redshirt sophomore quarterback Cameron Rising. Two years ago, Rising landed with the Utes after putting his name in the transfer portal.

Rising never actually took any snaps during a game with the Longhorns over the course of two years. But he surely picked things up fast after transferring to Utah.

As one of two former Longhorn quarterbacks now under head coach Kyle Whittingham at Utah, Rising has definitely taken hold of the starting job. The other former Texas quarterback that is now at Utah is the elusive dual-threat redshirt freshman Ja’Quinden Jackson.

Rising is proving to be one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the PAC-12. So far this season, he’s thrown for just under 2,000 passing yards, with roughly a 63 completion percentage. That was good for 14 passing touchdowns and just two interceptions. Rising has also added a nice dual-threat versatility to his game. He’s got more than 300 rushing yards and five rushing scores under his belt this fall.

It’s clear that Rising will be the starting quarterback for the Utes for at least the next couple of years. He’s locked onto this starting job in 2021 and never looked back. As one of the highest-graded quarterbacks in the PAC-12 this season, Rising is proving that Texas might’ve made a mistake not giving him a shot when he was still around on the Forty Acres.

Granted, Sam Ehlinger was rolling at the time while Rising was an underclassman at Texas.