Kyle Whittingham: Charlie Brewer Is Quite A Bit Ahead Of Other QB’s As Expected

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Without returning starter Cam Rising, Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham is pleased with the play of his quarterbacks in spring football, particularly with Charlie Brewer.

Cam Rising will not participate in spring football for Utah as he is still recovering from surgery he had during the season in 2020. But their most experienced quarterback is playing like he has a lot of game reps under his belt in Charlie Brewer, who is the transfer from Baylor.

It sounds like when fall camp rolls around, it will be a two-man race for the starting job between Charlie Brewer and Cameron Rising.

“First of all, Charlie Brewer is quite a bit ahead of everybody else, the other four freshmen, that’s to be expected,” Whittingham told the media on Friday morning. “Charlie’s a senior. He’s got a lot of experience under his belt. The other four guys have no Division I experience. So that’s no surprise to us that that’s how things are unfolding to this point. We’ve got obviously Cam Rising waiting in the wings when fall camp begins. So that’ll put a whole new spin on the quarterback competition. But right now, Charlie Brewer, he’s clearly performing better than anybody else.”

"Charlie Brewer is a bit ahead of everyone else which is to be expected." – Kyle Whittingham#GoUtes @kslsports

— Trevor Allen (@TrevorASports) March 26, 2021

Whittingham mentioned that they will rank the QB’s heading into fall camp and Rising will factor into the competition.

“We’ll come out of spring with the five guys that have been getting work in a ranked in order and a hierarchy and in Cam will factor in the fall. You can’t spend much time in the fall with any more than two quarterbacks getting reps. So there’ll be a short period of time where we’ll probably have three guys involved. If Cam is able to do everything and not be limited and take all the reps that we hope he’s able to take, it will be a two-man race.”

Kyle Whittingham likes Peter Costelli and Ja'Quinden Jackson in camp. On JJ:

"He looks like a linebacker and runs like a deer."#GoUtes @kslsports

— Trevor Allen (@TrevorASports) March 26, 2021

Utah has two other quarterbacks that are competing for reps during spring ball. Peter Costelli is a four-star signee from California that enrolled early, while Ja’Quinden Jackson is a transfer from Texas. Both of those guys are performing well in camp according to Whittingham.

“Very athletic players, big upside, high ceilings for both those guys,” Whittingham said. “Pete (Costelli) just finished high school a couple months ago, so he’s very early in his development. Ja’Quinden Jackson has a little more experience in the year at Texas was able to take a few reps, but both those guys are tremendous athletes. Pete is a 10×700 meter guy and Ja’Quinden looks like a linebacker and runs like a deer. So he’s got a lot of ability as well. We’re very excited about their futures and optimistic about what they’re going to bring to the program. Don’t count them out of the race yet either. Just because I said Charlie Brewer is number one right now, that doesn’t mean that some ground can’t be made up by the junior guys in these next few weeks.”

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