AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas landed a big-time in-state recruit for the Class of 2026 in Willis’ Jermaine Bishop.
Bishop, rated a 5-star recruit by 247Sports, verbally committed to the Longhorns on Wednesday. The recruiting site ranks Bishop as the country’s No. 1 overall “athlete,” meaning he could play several positions at the college level, and the No. 3 overall recruit in Texas.
Bishop chose the Longhorns over Texas A&M, Southern California and Florida, among other schools.
He’s the type of player who could contribute on both sides of the ball as a wide receiver and cornerback, a combination made famous by Deion Sanders and made cool again recently by Travis Hunter. Bishop had 14 catches for 175 yards and two touchdowns against Tomball in last year’s 6A-Division II area playoff round and caught nine balls for 132 yards with a pair of scores in the regional semifinal loss to DeSoto.
MORE THAN THE SCORE: Stay up to date on sports stories like these, and sign up for our More than the Score sports newsletter at kxan.com/newsletters
He hauled in 83 passes for 1,565 yards with 18 touchdowns for the Wildkats last season and had three interceptions on the defensive side of the ball. He’s a cousin to former Davey O’Brien winner and Heisman Trophy runner-up Michael Bishop, a star for the Kansas State Wildcats from 1997-98.
That gives the Longhorns seven commitments for the 2026 class so far. Bishop is the second 5-star recruit on the commitment list, with quarterback Dia Bell as the other.
