Michael Bishop (quarterback)

American football player (born 1976)

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). He played college football for the Kansas State Wildcats, earning consensus All American honors in 1998. He was selected in the seventh round (227th overall) of the 1999 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots. Bishop was a member of the CFL's Toronto Argonauts from 2002 to 2008. He also previously played with the NFL's New England Patriots during the 2000 season and also played in the Arena Football League (AFL), most recently with the Grand Rapids Rampage. 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 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. 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. 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. 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.

Kansas State Wildcats Season Team Passing Rushing Cmp (Passes completed) Att (Passes attempted) Pct (Completion percentage) Yds (Passing yards) Y/A (Yards per passing attempt) TD (Passing touchdowns) Int (Interceptions) Att (Rushing attempts) Yds (Rushing yards) Avg (Yards per rushing attempt) TD (Rushing touchdowns) 1997 Kansas State 80 185 43.2 1,557 8.4 13 8 147 566 3.9 9 1998 Kansas State 164 295 55.6 2,844 9.6 23 4 177 748 4.2 14 Career 244 480 50.8 4,401 9.2 36 12 324 1,314 4.1 23

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. It was not until the 2000 season that he played in his first ever professional game. During that season, he saw only limited playing time, completing just 3 of 9 passes for 80 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. During a game against the Indianapolis Colts he threw a 44 yard Hail Mary touchdown at the end of the first half in his first career attempt. Afterwards, several Patriots fans, upset with the poor play of starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe throughout the season, demanded that coach Bill Belichick name Bishop the starter, though this never happened. Tom Brady called Bishop "one of the best athletes he has ever seen" in the 2000 NFL season.

In 2001, Bishop played in Germany for the Frankfurt Galaxy of NFL Europe. He started six games for the Galaxy, and completed 76 of 153 passes for 1,090 yards, including 11 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. He also gained 244 yards on 35 carries (7.0 avg.) and scored one rushing touchdown. Bishop was released by the Patriots in August 2001. He was then signed by the Green Bay Packers but was cut before the 2001 regular season.

From 2004 2007, Bishop played in both the CFL and the Arena Football League. In his first AFL season in 2004, Bishop seldom saw any playing time with the Grand Rapids Rampage, playing in only five games. In 2005, he started in 15 games for the Rampage and led the league in rushing yards, rushing attempts, yards per rush, and rushing touchdowns. He also set a record for most rushing yards in a single game on February 5, 2005 against the Colorado Crush by becoming the first player to ever rush for 100 yards in an AFL game. In addition to this record, he also holds the AFL record for most rushing yards in a season with 459. Because of his rushing statistics as a quarterback combined with his strong arm, comparisons between him and NFL quarterback Michael Vick were made. Some fans and sports writers have labeled him the "Michael Vick of the AFL". In 2006, Bishop signed with the Chicago Rush. Despite the buzz he created in 2005, he was relegated to sharing the backup quarterback role behind Matt D'Orazio with Asad Abdul Khaliq. Bishop received very little playing time upon joining the Rush in 2006, though some of that was a result of a leave of absence he took from the team due to the passing of his mother. The Rush went on to win ArenaBowl XX that season. On October 31, 2006, Bishop signed with the Kansas City Brigade. However, on March 13, 2007, he was traded to the Rampage, marking his second stint with the team since 2005. On May 15, 2007, he was placed on the Rampage's reserve list under the "left squad" category. This move was done to clear the way for his return to the Canadian Football League.

Bishop played for the Corpus Christi Hammerheads and was their starting quarterback in 2009. The Hammerheads went 1–3 with Bishop under center losing to the El Paso Generals and once to the Abilene Ruff Riders.

Bishop signed with the Texas Hurricanes in the Southern Indoor Football League in June 2009 and served as their starting quarterback. The Hurricanes went 0–3 with Bishop under center and 0–4 when he was on the roster, losing to the Louisiana Swashbucklers, Houma Conquerors, and Austin Turfcats.

Year Team GP Passing Rushing Att Cmp Pct Yds TD Int Rtg Att Yds Avg Lng TD 2000 NE 8 9 3 33.3 80 1 1 64.4 7 1 0.1 2 0 2001 FRA 10 153 76 49.7 1,090 11 7 78.1 35 244 7.0 22 1 2002 TOR 14 148 63 42.6 1,053 7 10 54.8 45 225 5.0 24 2 2003 TOR 18 20 8 40.0 215 1 2 55.2 3 33 11.0 14 0 2004 TOR 18 217 104 47.9 1,508 6 15 51.4 60 408 6.8 38 5 2005 TOR 18 61 31 50.8 416 3 4 61.9 13 102 7.8 21 0 2006 TOR 11 12 5 41.7 75 2 1 83.7 21 31 1.5 3 1 2007 TOR 13 355 185 52.1 2,920 22 11 87.5 38 260 6.8 20 0 2008 SSK 10 232 141 60.8 2,224 7 12 81.2 41 202 4.9 20 4 2008 TOR 8 42 19 45.2 326 3 1 86.0 5 42 8.4 — 0 2009 WPG 14 405 204 50.4 3,035 15 20 67.1 19 84 4.4 — 0 NFL totals 8 9 3 33.3 80 1 1 64.4 7 1 0.1 2 0 NFLE totals 10 153 76 49.7 1,090 11 7 78.1 35 244 7.0 22 1 CFL totals 125 1,492 760 50.9 11,772 66 77 70.7 275 1,387 5.0 38 12