Charlie Brewer’s Utah tenure lasted three games.
The Utes said Tuesday that Brewer had left the team. Brewer, a transfer from Baylor, opened the season as Utah’s starting QB. He was benched in the second half of Utah’s three-overtime loss to San Diego State on Saturday.
Brewer was replaced at QB by Cameron Rising. Rising performed much better than Brewer did after he entered the game. Brewer was 14-of-26 passing for 104 yards and threw an interception. Rising was 19-of-32 for 153 yards and threw three touchdowns. Two of them came in the fourth quarter and another came in overtime.
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham was asked Monday who his starting QB would be against Washington State on Saturday. Whittingham said the coaching staff had a “solid idea” who would start but declined to name the QB. That QB is clearly now Rising.
Utah started the season with a win over FCS opponent Weber State. But the Utes lost to BYU in Week 2 and then fell to 1-2 after losing 33-31 to the Aztecs.
Brewer threw an interception in all three of those games. He was 15-of-26 passing for 147 yards against the Cougars and ends his Utah career with a 61% completion percentage and 484 yards to go with three TDs and three interceptions. His arrival at Utah figured to be one of the most significant QB additions of the offseason as Utah returned 19 starters on a team that looked equipped to compete for the Pac-12 South title.
The Utes are still in the Pac-12 race — they haven’t played a conference game yet — and it’s Rising who is now tasked with helping Utah win a wide-open South division. Rising, a transfer from Texas, was a backup to Jake Bentley and Drew Lisk in 2020.
Brewer completed over 60% of his passes in each of his four seasons at Baylor. Brewer’s best season came in 2019 when he was 251-of-389 passing for 3,161 yards and 21 TDs to just seven interceptions as Baylor went to the Sugar Bowl under now-Carolina Panthers coach Matt Rhule.