The Tennessee football running game has sneakily become a heavy part of the team’s identity in recent seasons.
The Tennessee football running game has sneakily become a heavy part of the team’s identity in recent seasons.
Since 2023, there’s been a consistent upward trend in running game focus, with household names like Jaylen Wright and Dylan Sampson heading the forefront of the attack.
Both running backs reached the NFL after being selected in Round 4. Wright was drafted by the Miami Dolphins at pick 120, while Sampson was taken by the Cleveland Browns at pick 126.
Last season, the line moved down to DeSean Bishop, who took clear command of the running back room in the 2025 season. He finished the year with 1,076 yards rushing, while averaging 5.9 yards per carry.
“His mindset, his mentality, the way he carries himself, it’s still him,” Tennessee running back coach De’Rail Sims said. “He’s still gonna be the first guy in the building, still is gonna be the best note-taker on the whole entire team. The way he approaches practice as a technician has been really good.
"His habits and characteristics, which have helped him get to this point, have not changed. You see a little bit more sense of urgency with Bish, though, in terms of understanding, like, ‘I’m in a leadership role. I’m a returning starter on this offense. I don’t want to live off the things I did last year. I wanna go be better this year than I was last year.’ So you see all of those characteristics with (him).”
A hometown hero from Karns High School in Knoxville, Bishop has the makeup of a man who truly waited his turn to shine.
Bishop, a winner of back-to-back Tennessee Titans 5A Mr. Football awards, walked on with the Vols and earned a redshirt after not playing his freshman year. In 2024, he served as a backup to Sampson.
From backup to a leader in the room, both on and off the field, Bishop is poised for a big 2026 season as the feature back.
“When there are questions that need to be answered, when I’m not in the room, when the other coaches are not in the room, Bish is the guy that’s doing it,” Sims said. “Same situation when they’re doing walkthroughs. He’s being the leader in the room, where, like, ‘Here’s the things that were my pitfalls when I first came in,’ to where they can learn from.
"And now he’s helping them to make sure that they’re not walking in the same footsteps or making mistakes that a freshman makes early on, to where they’re kind of accelerating their process too from a learning standpoint.”
Now, as a redshirt junior, he has the chance to follow in the footsteps of his former teammates, Sampson and Wright.
As long as Bishop is healthy, he’s sure to lead the stat sheet and reps on the field. His leadership for the other guys in the room, such as Daune Morris and Javin Gordon, a transfer from Tulane, will be just as key for the future of the program.
The run game will be crucial this season, especially considering the team will feature an inexperienced quarterback as the starter, as none of the options have spent much time as a starting quarterback.
“Just understanding we gotta keep the quarterback upright and keep him clean and at the same time, when we’re running the ball, you gotta go get more than what’s blocked up,” Sims said. “In terms of putting us in second down and short situations, third down and short situations if it gets there. For us, we always talk about this: Being a running back means if I wanna be elite, I’m gonna get more than what’s blocked up front. So if they’re blocking it for four, I wanna get six. So we do a really good job of trying to maximize that in terms of helping the young guy out.”