Tennessee football got off to a big start as expected against Furman on Saturday. One thing that many picked up on was the sluggish start to the run game. However, that didn’t last long. The Vols finished the day with 329 yards on 47 carries, for an average of seven yards per carry.
Georgia Tech’s front will no doubt provide a stiffer challenge to the Vols. On Tuesday Vols senior running back DeSean Bishop spoke to the media on the Tennessee run game. Bishop finished just three yards short of 100 against the Paladins. He feels good about his performance with a forward thinking mindset to do even more.
“I think I did pretty good,” Bishop said. “All glory to God, it’s a blessing to be out there the first game and to be able to start. I’m used to being someone that was a rotational guy, being the sole guy right now. I feel like I did a pretty solid job for my first game. Obviously going to continue to get better, continue to improve every week.”
Bishop is the number one guy for Tennessee, as he mentioned. The run game is a huge asset to first-year quarterback Faizon Brandon, as it takes pressure off him.
“We’re a pivotal point on this offense,” Bishop said. “I believe we’re the engine of the offense, especially with the O-line and the guys blocking, and our wideouts as well. We got to make this thing go, and a lot of people are going to try to stop the run. But with a young quarterback, we had to take that pressure off him and just continue to run the ball and punish people on the run.”
It also opens up the pass game, as it did Saturday. Brandon finished the day with back-to-back 55-plus-yard touchdown passes to Mike Matthews.
The Yellow Jackets host the Vols on Saturday off a 14-13 loss to Colorado. Bishop expects a team eager to bounce back.
“I’d say they’re relentless,” Bishop said. “They play hard and they’re physical. Coming off a loss, I know they’re going to want to get back on the right side of it. Being at home, you got to defend your home, and they don’t want to start 0-2 at home. So we’re going to get their best and they’re going to get ours.”
Who knows how Georgia Tech will try to attack the Vols offense, but if overzealous, that would feed into big plays for the Vols. Colorado at times was able to run between the tackles and off tackle successfully. That hurt the Yellow Jackets on counter action. Micah Welch and Damian Henderson II gashed the Yellow Jackets for some solid runs.
Tennessee has a nice group of backs. Outside of Bishop, Javin Gordon, Daune Morris and Justin Baker have the tools to put together a solid run attack. When you add Brandon as a runner, I like this Vols running attack against the Yellow Jackets. From GT’s film against Colorado, a lot of holes were exposed. If Tennessee comes in with an offensive line that is ready to go from the jump, it should be a successful night.
