Steve Sarkisian has never been afraid of using talented players at wide receiver and defensive back.
Texas Longhorns early enrollee Jermaine Bishop could be next — the nation’s No. 3 athlete in the 2026 recruiting class, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, is set to spend time training at defensive back during the summer.
“Jermaine is a fantastic football player. He’s a young man who’s got an extremely high football IQ. The game comes naturally to him. I think it always has. He’s a guy that
we played exclusively at wide receiver this spring. This summer, we are going to allow him to do some of the DB stuff, because I do think there is a future for him there. This is not out of the norm for me. I did this with John Ross at the University of Washington, did it with Adoree’ Jackson at USC. We did it at Alabama with Devonta Smith,” Sarkisian said at the Touchdown Club of Houston on Thursday.
“They don’t major in one side, but they can be an emergency on the other side. So we’re going to let him train some with the DBs this summer, learn the system, all the while still do his receiver work. But he’s that gifted. He’s that physically gifted and he’s got the mind that can withstand it. It’ll be a fun project as we continue to move forward on it.”
During the spring, Bishop already set the stage for a big-time career at wide receiver for the Longhorns, but experienced depth in front of him, playing time will be hard to come by on the offensive side of the ball. On defense, the long season will mean that the secondary will take some knocks, some of which could significantly impact the season.
Last year, when star cornerback Manny Muhammad missed the SEC season opener against Florida, backup Kobe Black wasn’t ready to handle Dallas Wilson, who caught three passes for 82 yards and two touchdowns against Black, including a critical 55-yard touchdown reception at the end of the third quarter that put the Gators up by 15 points.
With the expectation that Texas will play deep into the postseason this year, with the possibility of needing to play 16 or 17 games to make it to Las Vegas to play for the national championship, depth will be at a premium and Bishop, if he can acclimate to playing defensive back in college, could end up playing an emergency role there.
