FRISCO, Texas – Upon his arrival in Morgantown, Beanie Bishop instantly displayed a high level of confidence, but his confidence has now only increased after proving his true potential as a Mountaineer. He’s now putting that on display at the East-West Shrine Bowl as his focus is centered around impressing NFL scouts enough to be drafted.
And now that Bishop earned recognition as a consensus All-American, his plan is to take his game to an even greater level and achieving success in the NFL. He elaborated on his intentions from his time at WVU and how his lone season representing West Virginia shaped his mentality moving forward while talking with the media, including WV Sports Now, at the East-West Shrine Bowl.
“I wanted to show that I’m elite when the ball is in the air. Whenever the ball is in the air, it’s just as much mine as it is theirs (the receivers),” Bishop explained when asked what he wanted to show during the 2023 season. And to that regard, Bishop picked off four passes and wrecked games for opposing quarterbacks all throughout the year, most notably getting to Pitt quarterback Phil Jurkovec in WVU’s Backyard Brawl win and recording two interceptions on the road at UCF. He also helped keep the Mountaineers at the top of college football in ball-hawk rate with 20 pass deflections.
But most importantly for the Louisville, KY native, he showed he’s a complete corner. “And that I can tackle well. I finished the season with 60 tackles (67). Not a lot of DBs like to tackle. And I love to tackle. I’m a physical DB, can play inside and outside,” Bishop said while exuding that confidence WVU fans grew to love so much.
Feeling he always needs to keep proving himself, Bishop then touched on what he hopes NFL scouts realize about him after the East-West Shrine Bowl. “I want to be able to show them that I can handle the volume of the playbook, make checks and adjustments and just be able to play inside and outside.”
Bishop even mentioned a couple legendary names when it comes to past or present NFL players he models his game after. He says he studies Ed Reed and Sean Taylor more than anyone playing today. Their physicality is what attracts Bishop to their games.
It’s clear Bishop has the kind of attitude that can lead him to being a legend of his own.
Nick Farabaugh provided reporting from Frisco.
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