All eyes are on Tennessee running back DeSean Bishop right now. In the 42-9 win over Kennesaw State, Bishop suffered a hip injury in the first half and then surprisingly returned in the middle of the third quarter and reaggravated things.
After the win in Week 3, Josh Heupel called himself and his staff out for making the mistake in bringing Bishop back onto the field. When asked if the veteran running back is going to be good to go vs. No. 1 Texas at Neyland Stadium in Week 4, Heupel essentially dodged the question, focusing more on former walk-on Hunter Barnes finding the end zone. You can see that in the video below at the 4:12 mark:
DeSean Bishop's status seems to be totally up in the air for Tennessee vs. Texas
Yeah, that's not good at all. Again, Heupel admitted letting Bishop back into the game was a mistake and with all the respect in the world, we've got to agree with him - it was foolish to have Bishop test his hip in a game that everyone knew Tennessee was going to win by at least 30 points.
“DeSean ran really well,” Heupel said during his postgame presser. "Just didn’t think it was smart to put him back in at that point in the game and as we have a conference stretch here.”
Hindsight of course is 20-20, but this is a decision Heupel wishes he could have had back. With that, we must now wait and see what's going to happen next week during practice. Bishop is going to have to work closely with the team trainers to get himself back to full health before taking on the No. 1 team in the country.
If the worst-case scenario arrives and Bishop isn't able to suit up against the Longhorns, speedster Daune Morris will be the next man up to be featured in the ground game. Morris is fresh off of two strong performances running the ball for Heupel: he posted 98 yards and a touchdown in Week 2 against Georgia Tech and added 116 yards and another score vs. Kennesaw State.
Morris has earned the trust of his teammates to deliver, so there should be confidence in him among the fanbase if Bishop does not play. Let's hope that doesn't happen, though. In a perfect world, Bishop will make a full recovery in time for the Vols to stun Texas in Knoxville. We'll learn more about his status in the coming days, but it's safe to say that Heupel's postgame conference has only added to concerns on the star running back.
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