The Football Gods have listened to the prayers from the Tennessee faithful! In the Week 3 win over Kennesaw State, people were left worried sick with DeSean Bishop getting injured. He got hurt in the first half and then inexplicably returned in the third quarter for two carries before leaving banged up once again. Thankfully, he's going to be ready to rock to take on No. 1 Texas.
During his presser to open up the week, Josh Heupel left no doubt that his star running back is going to play, which will calm so many worried fans. The plan moving forward is for Bishop to work overtime in his recovery, but nothing is going to stop him from helping the Vols work to post a monster upset.
"We'll make sure he's fully ready to go on Saturday."
— Josh Ward (@Josh_Ward) September 21, 2026
Josh Heupel on running back DeSean Bishop's status for the Texas game
DeSean Bishop injury update: Star RB will be ready to go to take on Texas
We can't overstate how massive this news is for Tennessee. Had Bishop been ruled out for the showdown with the top team in the country, it would have put even more pressure on quarterback Faizon Brandon to step his game up. Thankfully, that's not going to be the case and Brandon can now rely on Bishop to carry the RB workload.
Daune Morris is also expected to get plenty of work, as he has looked bright in back-to-back weeks in the wins over Georgia Tech and Kennesaw State. This past weekend, he rushed for 116 yards and a touchdown. Bishop is the leader of the running backs room, though, and the power back is going to be called on early and often to take it to the Texas defense.
Thus far this season, the junior RB has carried the ball 43 times for 286 yards and four touchdowns, which is good for 6.7 yards per carry. He's the straw that stirs the drink for the run game and more of the same will be showcased at Neyland Stadium against the Longhorns.
Meanwhile for Texas, Steve Sarkisian remains mum on whether or not star linebacker Colin Simmons is going to play or not. While Sark downplayed the severity of the injury, he clapped back at reporters a bit for trying to get more information - yeah, not a good look.
Steve Sarkisian asked about Colin Simmons:
— David Eckert (@davideckert98) September 21, 2026
"There's called an injury report in the SEC, so that's enough of the injury questions."
Knowing Heupel, he's going to go ahead and prep as if the future first-round pick is also going to be suited up in Knoxville come kickoff. Luckily for Heupel and the Vols, there's zero worry about Bishop moving forward. Yes, this was a bit of a scare, but the good news is that the veteran running back will be motivated to have another huge game - and hopefully in a win too.
Add us as a preferred source on Google