DeSean Bishop capitalizes on opportunities against Kent State

The running back room has some depth.

We’ve seen quite a few new faces over the last three weeks for Tennessee football. One of the main ones has been DeSean Bishop, who has been pushed into action following an injury to Cam Seldon. The Knoxville native once again made the most out of his opportunities on Saturday night against Kent State, proving Tennessee’s running back room to be deep and ready to go for SEC play.

Bishop took over after a few drives for Dylan Sampson and instantly found the endzone a couple of times. The former three-star prospect is enjoying his first legitimate shot at playing time, and he’s likely forcing his way into the rotation going forward.

“Yeah, well he comes into into the meeting room, to the practice field, he’s the same dude every day, man,” Josh Heupel said after the Kent State win. “He’s competing. He wants to grow. He challenges himself. He responds well to the challenges from his coaches. I thought he did a really good job tonight pressing around the line scrimmage and getting to the second level and creating big plays.”

Bishop got into the open field time after time on Saturday night, pressing the issue in the open field. He forced a few missed tackles on his way to two long touchdown runs. Bishop ended up handling seven carries on the night, which went for 120 yards. He averaged 17.1 yards per carry.

With Seldon still sidelined, it was important to get both DeSean Bishop and Peyton Lewis up to speed quickly for depth purposes. After the first three weeks and three straight blowouts, it’s safe to say Tennessee has accomplished that mission.

Seldon’s status is unclear for next week against Oklahoma, but you have to feel pretty good about what’s behind Sampson to this point.