Grayson Weir
Videos by OutKick
There is a lot of hype coming out of Salt Lake City this fall. After falling just short in one of the greatest Rose Bowls of all-time to close out last season, Utah is ranked No. 7 in the preseason AP Poll.
As the reigning Pac-12 champions, the Utes will look to repeat in 2022 and hope to become the first Pac-12 team to make the College Football Playoff since Washington got stomped by Alabama in 2016/17.
A large part of that hope and hype stems from the offense. Utah averaged just over 33 points per game last season behind a high-powered offense led by quarterback Cameron Rising and running back Tavion Thomas, who both return this season.
Rising, a redshirt junior, was a four-star recruit out of high school and took over the starting job in 2020 before getting injured in Week 1 and missing the entire season. He bounced back in 2021 and completed 64% of his passes for 2,493 yards and 20 touchdowns with only five interceptions. The California-native also ran the ball 74 times for 499 yards and six touchdowns.
Rising was a lot of fun to watch and his frame is a contributing factor to his allure. At 6-foot-2, 218 pounds (which might be an understatement), he is not a small guy.
In turn, Cam Rising has been given one of the best nicknames in college football— ThiccBoi.
Utah sent out its game notes for this weekend’s season-opener against Florida and made it official.
The nickname first came into existence in 2020. It stemmed from a photo of Rising during spring practice where he looked built. As a result, a diehard Utes fan named Connor started calling the quarterback ThiccBoi.
It started as an inside joke amongst Utah-focused Twitter circles. And then it spread like wildfire.
Eventually, as #ThiccBoi evolved into #ThiccBoi7, Rising’s dad reached out to Connor and asked they could use the hashtag to sell merchandise. From there, the legend of ThiccBoi was cemented as a permanent, fully-embraced nickname, not just a Twitter joke.
And now, as Rising enters his third year as QB1, ThiccBoi is being included in the school’s official game notes. Truly incredible.
