The Tennessee Volunteers are scheduled to conduct their second preseason football scrimmage Thursday morning inside Neyland Stadium.
Following last Friday night’s initial scrimmage, redshirt freshman running back DeSean Bishop was the first player singled out by Josh Heupel. Tennesee’s fourth-year head coach said the 5-foot-10, 200-pounder from Knoxville was “effective and efficient,” and Bishop isn’t planning on resting on that performance.
“I think I’ve put in the work, and I think I’ve proven myself to be ready enough to be on the field,” Bishop said Wednesday in a news conference. “It’s a matter of time before I get the opportunity.”
The Vols practiced Wednesday morning in preparation for Thursday.
Bishop has been focused on proving himself since joining Tennessee as the least-heralded member of its 2023 signing class, which followed an earlier commitment to Coastal Carolina. Barely a three-star prospect, he was the nation’s No. 89 running back and the No. 1,308 overall recruit in the 247Sports.com composite rankings.
His first college impression was a success, as Bishop rushed a whopping 24 times for 90 yards during the 2023 Orange & White spring game, but he suffered a season-ending ankle injury last August during preseason camp. Bishop said he took a lot of “mental reps” in the months that followed, and he quickly won over first-year running backs coach De’Rail Sims.
“When you walk in the building, you see this guy walking to the weight room and how he attacks it,” Sims said Wednesday. “It’s the same way when he walks in the meeting room. He always has his notebook and is always taking really good notes, and he always asks really good questions.
“He’s always going to be the first guy out on the field and the last one to leave.”
Bishop played at Karns High School and played a lot.
In his final two seasons, he was the busiest of Beavers, racking up a combined 5,592 yards on 758 carries for an average of 7.4 yards per rush. He reached the end zone 64 times as a rusher, and that type of dependability is working out well with the Vols.
“He’s kind of a throwback player from a mentality standpoint,” Sims said. “He doesn’t get flustered. He has a routine in terms of his body maintenance. If he makes a mistake, he’s frustrated, but it doesn’t affect the next play. He’s got good hands out of the backfield.
“I definitely see him as an old-school player. He’ll be a guy who keeps getting stronger and stronger as the game goes along.”
When told of that assessment from Sims, Bishop said: “I don’t let stuff bother me. I just play my game.”
Bishop’s second Orange & White experience this past April yielded two rushes for 9 yards and a 28-yard reception.
Tennessee has opportunities at running back behind clear-cut starter Dylan Sampson and with Cameron Seldon working his way back from a shoulder injury this spring. Khalifa Keith got the carries at the start of last Friday’s scrimmage, when Sampson was held out, but Bishop and freshman Peyton Lewis are vying for time as well.
Bishop’s confidence that he will see the field sooner than later is a shared confidence.
“Whether he’s going into practices or scrimmages, he knows that everybody trusts him,” Sims said. “He knows what to do, and he goes in there and operates at a high level. It’s added to the trust of his coaches and of his teammates as well.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.