DeSean Bishop on Tennessee’s 2025 campaign: ‘You don’t want this outcome again’
By David Wasson
Published:
The Tennessee Volunteers entered the 2025 college football season coming off their first College Football Playoff appearance and hungry for even more success.
What followed, though, was a disappointing 8-5 season that saw the Volunteers lose 4 regular-season games to ranked SEC teams and then absorb a heartbreaking 30-28 loss to Illinois in the Music City Bowl.
For players like sophomore running back DeSean Bishop, who turned in a 1,076-yard rushing season and a 93-yard effort against the Fighting Illini, 2026 will be all about not enduring the same fate as the 2025 campaign.
“There’s a lot you can learn from this,” said Bishop, still in his uniform and pads after Tuesday’s Music City Bowl. “We’re not going to take this loss lightly. It’s not going to carry over to next year, obviously. But it will be a reminder that you don’t want this outcome again.
“We are experiencing a lot of these outcomes and there has got to be something different next year.”
Bishop notched three 100-yard efforts in his second season in Knoxville, including a 146-yard outburst against Arkansas. He also rushed for 123 yards against then-No. 6 Alabama and 116 yards against Florida. But Tennessee failed to record a single victory in 2025 against a team with a .500-or-better record.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. He also hosts Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson, weekdays from 3-5 pm across Southwest Florida and on FoxSportsFM.com. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
