Also, that he's very competitive. So it doesn't make much sense to me that he'd want to the backup.

I have no insider info myself, but it sounds like he wants to play and stayed this year with that intent. I know of at least two skill players (Dorian Singer and Mycah Pittman) who have stated in interviews that Rising was one of the reasons they picked Utah over other destinations. I don't imagine they'd want to come and play with a guy whose motivations are to cash NIL checks and do the least work possible.

Personally, I bet he could have made more NIL cash if he'd transferred to another program. No, he's not Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, etc., but he's a very capable QB for CFB and has a ton of experience and has proven that he play at a high level.

His advantages staying in Utah were that he already was guaranteed the starting spot, has been in this offense with the same coordinator his entire time with the Utes, and the team was bringing back a lot of talent on both sides (the pathway to getting the to playoffs was presumably less difficult as well).