Michael Bishop

Michael Paul Bishop (born May 15, 1976) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL).

In baseball, he was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 28th round of the 1995 Major League Baseball Draft.

Bishop initially attended Blinn Junior College in Brenham, Texas where as a freshman, he led the Buccaneers to a 12–0 record and the NJCAA National Championship.

He rushed for 387 yards including three scores and passed for 1,712 yards and 18 touchdowns.

His sophomore year, he once again led Blinn to a 12–0 record and an NJCAA National Championship.

He was voted honorable mention All-Conference and controlled an offense which recorded 3,086 yards rushing, including 47 touchdowns and scored a total of 438 points (36.5 avg. per game).

He passed for 972 yards and nine touchdowns, and rushed for 265 yards and four scores.

After his two years at Blinn, he played baseball for one season at Independence Community College in Independence, Kansas in the spring of 1997.

He was heavily recruited by a number of Division I programs as a defensive back, but decided upon Kansas State University, as head coach Bill Snyder was the only coach to offer Bishop the opportunity to play the quarterback position.

In 1997, his first year at Kansas State, Bishop started all 11 regular season games and completed 80-of-185 passes for 1,557 yards and 13 touchdowns.

He also rushed for 556 yards and added nine rushing touchdowns.

Bishop was voted second-team All-Big 12 Conference by the league’s coaches and Big 12 Newcomer of the year by Associated Press.

During the 1997 season, Kansas State won 11 games including a 1997 Fiesta Bowl victory over Syracuse led by Donovan McNabb by a score of 35–18.

Kansas State's only loss in the 1997 season came to the eventual national champion Nebraska Cornhuskers.

The loss was the first of only three in Bishop's collegiate career.

He played college football for the Kansas State Wildcats, earning consensus All-American honors in 1998.

Bishop was also one of the best college quarterbacks in the country at Kansas State, beating out UCLA's Cade McNown for the 1998 Davey O'Brien Award.

Bishop was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2023.

Bishop was an outstanding football and baseball player at Willis High School in Willis, Texas.

A two-year starter who averaged 221.2 yards-per-game passing as a senior, he was an All-Montgomery County, all-city and all-state selection in football.

In Bishop's senior year, Kansas State was considered a contender for the 1998 National Championship.

That year, he broke school season records with 2,844 yards passing and 23 touchdowns with only four interceptions, He led the team with 14 rushing touchdowns and finished second with 748 yards on 177 attempts.

He passed for 440 yards and four touchdowns on 23-of-40 passes vs. Northeast Louisiana, his four touchdown passes tying a school record and his 440 passing yards ranking him second in school history.

He passed for 306 yards and a pair of touchdowns and rushed 25 times for 140 yards (5.6 avg.) with two scores and was voted Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week as the Wildcats defeated Nebraska for the first time in 30 years.

In the 1998 Big 12 Championship Game on December 5, 1998, Kansas State lost in double overtime to No. 10 Texas A&M team 36–33.

Bishop ran for one touchdown in the game and threw for two more scores.

Bishop started in all 25 games (including bowl games) during his two seasons at Kansas State and posted a 22–3 (.880) record.

He received 792 votes, including 41 first place votes, but finished second in the 1998 Heisman Trophy voting to Ricky Williams.

He finished his Wildcat career fourth on the all-time passing list with 4,401 yards and broke Chad May’s career record with 36 touchdown passes despite playing only two seasons.

He ranks second behind Lynn Dickey in Kansas State history with 5,715 yards of total offense.

Also established a Kansas State record with 59 total touchdowns (rushing and passing).

After his senior season, he was voted a consensus All-American and All-Big 12 Conference selection and was named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year.

The Wildcats finished ranked third in the BCS, and lost in the Alamo Bowl to Purdue, 37–34.

He was selected in the seventh round (227th overall) of the 1999 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots.

Bishop was selected by the New England Patriots in the seventh round (227th overall) of the 1999 NFL Draft.

However, he was inactive for all but one game.

He also previously played with the National Football League's New England Patriots during the 2000 season and also played in the Arena Football League, most recently with the Grand Rapids Rampage.

Bishop was a member of the CFL's Toronto Argonauts from 2002 to 2008.

Bishop led the Wildcats to an undefeated regular season and the Big 12 North title, putting Kansas State in 1st place in the ESPN-USA Today Coaches poll and 2nd in the Associated Press media poll.

Just two weeks later, the Wildcats' national championship dreams were put to an end.