ESPN gives Tennessee Vols standout the credit he clearly deserves — but has lacked — ahead of 2026 season
The disrespect has been real for one of Tennessee’s biggest offensive weapons this offseason, but one outlet is giving him his due.
Tennessee RB DeSean Bishop had a massive role in Tennessee’s offensive explosion in 2025. Taking over after Dylan Sampson’s historic 2024 season, Bishop paced the Vols’ backfield with 1076 rushing yards and 16 rushing scores at a healthy 5.9 yards per carry, earning second team All-SEC honors in the process.
Still, despite being the lead dog in an offense that runs a lot of plays (and a lot of runs) and scores a lot of points, Bishop has been left off many preseason lists, including, inexplicably, the Doak Walker Award watch list.
But someone managed to notice Bishop this offseason — ESPN. The network put out their list of top 100 college football players, and Bishop checked in at No. 70.
ESPN ranks Tennessee RB DeSean Bishop No. 70 in list of top 100 college football players for 2026
“The Volunteers didn’t have to go far to find Bishop, who starred at Karns High School in Knoxville,” ESPN.com’s Mark Schlabach wrote. “They gave him a chance to walk-on, which was his only offer from an FBS team. He’s on scholarship now after he ran for 1,076 yards with 16 touchdowns in 2025. Over the past two seasons, 947 of Bishop’s 1,531 rushing yards came after contact and he forced 47 missed tackles. With a new quarterback starting under center, the Vols might ask even more from Bishop in 2026.”
Tennessee doesn’t seem likely to pull many punches in their playbook even with true freshman Faizon Brandon taking over under center. But that doesn’t mean they won’t hammer the ball in the running game plenty, particularly with Bishop to turn to. Heupel’s offenses have run the ball more than they’ve thrown it in each season in Knoxville.
Keep in mind, too, that when Heupel has one particular star in the backfield, he’ll lean on him despite his tendency to rotate backs, as we saw in 2024 with Sampson. Bishop is clearly the best of the group, so we could see him in more of a featured role than we have in years before 2024.
In any event, there could be big things on the way for No. 18 this year for Tennessee.
