Tennessee Football hasn’t had a college football individual award winner since wide receiver Jalin Hyatt took home the Biletnikoff Award during the 2022 season. But if there’s a player to watch heading into the 2026 season, that potential winner might be in the Vols’ running back room.
ESPN’s college football writers took a look at the most likely award winners for each of the teams in its way-too-early Top 25 rankings. It’s important to note that this is not a list of which players across the country has the best chance of winning an individual award, but rather which player on each team has a chance at taking home individual hardware. Some of the picks in the list are obviously going to be more likely than others.
The ESPN writers have Tennessee, which lands as the No. 25 team in ESPN’s early rankings, on the offensive side of the ball. ESPN’s Harry Lyles Jr. says that the most likely award winner to come out of Knoxville this year is running back DeSean Bishop with the Doak Walker Award.
The Doak Walker Award is presented to the nation’s premier college football running back each year. Previous winners have included Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love (2025), Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty (2024), Oklahoma State’s Ollie Gordon II (2023), Texas’ Bijan Robinson (2022), and Michigan State’s Kenneth Walker (2021). Tennessee has not produced a Doak Walker Award winner in its complete program history.
“Bishop had a great sophomore campaign, with 1,076 yards and 16 touchdowns on 182 carries, building off a solid freshman season,” Lyles Jr. writes. “With four returning starters on the offensive line and a new quarterback in the mix, Tennessee could lean on him in ways that could catapult him to another level in 2026. The Vols have done well at the position in recent years, not just with Bishop, but also guys such Dylan Sampson (who led the SEC in rushing in 2024) and Jaylen Wright.”
Only one other team in the Top 25 was given the Doak Walker Award as their team’s most likely individual award, which was BYU. The Cougars have running back LJ Martin, who was named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year last season with 1,305 rushing yards and 255 receiving yards.
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While Tennessee will be breaking in a new starting quarterback in 2026, there’s nothing that takes pressure off of a newcomers shoulders like being able to rely on a strong running game. That’s the major benefit of having Bishop back in the starting backfield for a second straight season.
Even with Tennessee’s SEC-leading passing game last season, Bishop was still fifth in the conference in total rushing yards during his breakout season. He also was tied for second in the conference with 16 rushing touchdowns among running backs last year.
“It’s huge because you look at the production, you got a guy that understands what he’s walking into in terms of seeing it week in and week out in terms of the caliber of teams that we’re going against,” Tennessee running backs coach De’Rail Sims said about Bishop in spring camp. “His understanding of what it’s like when the game’s on the line and having to go out there and make plays in all three facets of the game, in running the ball, the protection piece, and the passing game. So it’s huge having Bish back.”
And while Bishop returns to the program as a former thousand-yard rusher, Sims has seen the Knoxville native continue his work as he always has.
“Bish still is Bish,” Sims said. “His mindset, his mentality, the way he carries himself, it’s still him. 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 goes about practice in terms of being a technician has been really good. His habits, his characteristics that’s helped him get to this point has not changed.”
Bishop will have some stout competition for the award, though, with much of that coming from the SEC. The conference returns four of its top five rushers from last season, including Bishop, with Missouri’s Ahmad Hardy (1,649 yards), Ole Miss’ Kewan Lacy (1,567 yards), and Florida’s Jaden Baugh (1,170 yards).
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