Charlie Brewer leaves the Utah football program

In the era of the transfer portal, which is essentially college football free agency, the “hired gun” is now more a thing than ever in college football. It turns out Utah’s hired gun, Charlie Brewer, decided to take his talents elsewhere after Cam Rising replaced him as the starting Utah quarterback. It was announced with the new depth chart on Tuesday by Kyle Whittingham that Brewer has left the program.

It’s a shocking move, that isn’t all that shocking. It’s shocking, to me, because Brewer came to Utah with the knowledge of the situation. There was a returning quarterback, albeit an injured one, that was the starter the previous season. He was likely not promised a starting position, because that’s not how Coach Whitt does things. And going into fall camp, and coming out of spring ball, it was reported that it was going to be a competition between Rising and Brewer. Brewer was the favorite coming out of spring for a couple of reasons, Rising health being one of them, but him not being the starter was always a possibility. It’s also not shocking because in the era of “hired gun” players, especially quarterbacks if they don’t get the job they will likely move on to the next spot.

Alex Markham reported on UteNation that Brewer was unhappy with the move, and that unhappiness showed in the players-only meeting a few days ago. Alex’s sources are legit so I have no doubt about this reporting.

I find the situation disappointing because Brewer is talented and showed some of what he can do, but the performance by the offensive line no doubt shook his confidence and decision-making, which likely had a chain reaction throughout the offensive side of the ball. Losing Brewer hurts the QB depth, and the season now more than ever is on Rising’s shoulders.

It was obvious the spark that Rising gave the offense in the SDSU loss, almost pulling them back from a two-score hole to almost winning the game. He also has gotten support from his wide-outs over the last few days saying what kind of spark he has given the offense.

Here’s the new depth chart, that has Ja’Quinden Jackson at QB2, and a defined RB depth chart with Micah Bernard at No. 1 and TJ Pledger at No. 2. There also have been some adjustments with the defensive line with Moala out for the season, and the offensive line is still trying to find the best five to put out there.