Athlon totally disrespects DeSean Bishop and Tennessee's RB room with unit ranking

Not only does Tennessee return one of the best offensive lines in the country in terms of production, but Josh Heupel also retained tailback DeSean Bishop, who was one of the best players in the conference last fall. Bishop earned Second-Team All-SEC honors and was a Burlsworth Trophy semifinalist.

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Next fall, Tennessee will lean heavily on Bishop to be the focal point of the offense. With the Vols breaking in either Faizon Brandon or George MacIntyre at quarterback, the offense will likely be more methodical and built around establishing the run game with its best player. That should help open up the passing game and take the pressure off the young signal-callers. Bishop is expected to be a workhorse next season and could surpass the 1,076 yards and 16 touchdowns he posted last fall as long as he stays away from the injury bug.

That said, Bishop was seemingly overlooked by Athlon Sports. Tennessee’s running back unit came in at No. 6 in the SEC despite returning a 1,000-yard rusher who earned Second-Team All-SEC honors. Make it make sense.

DeSean Bishop continues to be overlooked despite great production

Yes, I understand these rankings are supposed to evaluate the entire running back room and not just one player. But Tennessee also has Javin Gordon behind Bishop, a player who contributed on a College Football Playoff team. Ranking the Vols that low just doesn’t make much sense to me.

Take Hollywood Smothers for example. Last year at NC State, before transferring to Texas, he rushed for 939 yards, while Bishop put up 1,076. Smothers also did it against an ACC schedule that wasn’t nearly as difficult as the SEC. Considering Bishop produced more yards against SEC competition, it's fair to question whether Smothers should be ranked ahead of him. Texas also has Raleek Brown from Arizona State, but I’d still take Bishop over the pair. Neither has proven they can do what Bishop has done in the best conference in the nation.

The same applies to Georgia. Nate Frazier is a really good player, and the Bulldogs have plenty of depth at running back, but the Vols have depth, too.

Florida is a bit puzzling as well. I’d say Gordon and Evan Pryor are pretty similar players, but I’m taking DeSean Bishop over Jadan Baugh. Bishop averaged 5.9 yards per carry compared to Baugh’s 5.3 and scored 16 total touchdowns compared to Baugh’s 10. These are fairly comparable running back rooms, but I’d still take Bishop, especially because he has a much larger sample of consistent production. Baugh also boosted his numbers significantly in the final game of the season against Florida State, when he rushed for 266 yards on 38 carries.

Ultimately, Bishop will have to have a big year this fall to back up these bold claims, but he is more than capable of building on his breakout 2025 campaign, especially since he will be looking to boost his NFL Draft stock. I wouldn’t be shocked to see Bishop earn First-Team All-SEC honors this fall. He has the talent and will certainly get the opportunity to do so.

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