Bishop Davenport Went From Fourth String to South Alabama’s Foundation. Now Comes the Hard Part.

Bishop Davenport completed 20 of 23 passes in South Alabama’s regular season finale against Southern Miss last November. He ran for two more touchdowns in a 42-35 win. It was his most efficient game of the year — 87 percent completions, no turnovers, a Jaguar offense that finally looked like what it was supposed to be.

Nobody would have predicted that sentence three years ago.

Davenport enters 2026 as a redshirt senior, the undisputed starter and one of the most experienced quarterbacks in the Sun Belt. He threw for 2,073 yards and 12 touchdowns while rushing for nine more in 2025, starting all 12 games. He earned an Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award Watch List nod.

None of it was handed to him.

South Alabama went 4-8 last season. The individual production was real. The wins were not. That’s the tension heading into this fall — and the reason this story isn’t a victory lap. It’s a blueprint.

Fourth String

Davenport was not a nobody in high school. He put up more than 8,000 all-purpose yards over his junior and senior seasons at Spring High School in Texas — roughly 4,000 a year — with 90-plus touchdowns passing and rushing combined. He earned District MVP honors.

But the recruiting process did not match the production.

“It was kind of slow at times,” Davenport told the Brick Talk podcast before the 2025 season. “Being a Texas quarterback, you expect more sometimes. But the main reason was I had a lot of technique issues at the time. I had a trainer, but it wasn’t that much of training that I needed. So now that I know that, I look back and like, OK, that makes sense.”

His first offer came from Texas Southern. Then Sam Houston, Lamar and Tulsa. Nothing from a Power conference. Nothing that matched what he had done on the field. But the Texas Southern offer rewired something.

“I feel like a different type of motivation,” Davenport said. “Like I knew what I had potential-wise, but once that offer came in, it’s like, OK, I can really take this.”

He chose Utah State for the opportunity and the development. He arrived in 2022 as a true freshman from one of the most talent-rich areas south of Houston, the second member of his family to play college football. He preserved his redshirt that year, buried on the depth chart behind three other quarterbacks.

Then injuries hit. Against Colorado State, the Aggies lost Cooper Legas to a concussion and Levi Williams to a heel injury. Suddenly the fourth-string freshman was the only option.

“Mentally, I was probably 90% (ready),” Davenport told the Deseret News at the time. “Physically, I wasn’t ready.”

He hadn’t taken practice reps outside normal drill work all season. His first collegiate start came on the road at Wyoming — windy, rowdy and hostile. The appearance confirmed two things: he had the nerve to play, and Utah State wasn’t where he’d prove it.

By the spring of 2023, Davenport entered the transfer portal. He thanked the coaching staff publicly but made the decision cleanly.

“You have to have that film or you have to at least play,” Davenport said of the transfer process. “Because it ain’t easy now. They’re not gonna just offer you just because.”

He landed at South Alabama — and the connection was not random. A member of the Jaguar coaching staff had recruited Davenport in high school but couldn’t get to him because of regional recruiting limits. When Davenport hit the portal, the relationship was already there.

“He hit me up and just told me everything about what they trying to build here,” Davenport said. “And he kept it real with me.”

Mobile felt right. “It’s a small Houston,” he said.

He sat out the entire 2023 season as a redshirt freshman — watching, learning Major Applewhite’s system, not seeing the field once.

The Bowl Game That Changed Everything

In 2024, the opportunity came in pieces. Eleven games played. Two starts. Davenport put up 604 passing yards and 161 rushing yards across the regular season — useful but not the kind of production that wins a starting job.

The IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl against Western Michigan on Dec. 14, 2024, changed the equation.

Davenport went 15-of-24 for 271 yards and two touchdowns through the air. He added 11 carries for 85 yards and a rushing score — including a 50-yard touchdown run, the longest rush in Jaguar bowl history. His 356 total yards and three touchdowns earned him bowl MVP honors.

“After that game, just coming into spring ball, even with Gio here, I felt like I built momentum for the next season,” Davenport told Tommy Hicks of Lagniappe Mobile the following August. “And just building on that is what I’ve been looking forward to doing.”

Winning the Job

Heading into 2025, the quarterback room reshuffled. Gio Lopez, who had been the starter, entered the transfer portal and committed to North Carolina. That opened the door — but Davenport still had to walk through it.

Standing in his way was Zach Pyron, a former four-star recruit who had previously played at Georgia Tech and Minnesota. On paper, the pedigree favored Pyron.

It wasn’t close.

“Yeah, he’s ahead. It ain’t even close,” Applewhite told Lagniappe Mobile before the season. “I mean, the guy started ball games. He’s been here for two years in the offense compared to a guy who’s been here one year in the offense, as compared to a guy who’s been here for two months.”

Davenport didn’t see it as a coronation. He saw it as something he’d already earned.

“I feel like I’ve been the veteran even when (Gio) was here,” Davenport said. “Just that mentality and just ready to take on that spot, that lead role.”

Applewhite framed it in simpler terms: “Bishop is a likeable person. That helps playing quarterback. He’s a likeable person. He’s also a hard worker.”

A Full Season

Davenport made his first start as the full-time QB1 on Aug. 30, 2025, against Morgan State. He went 12-of-14 for 166 yards and two touchdowns in a 38-21 win — nearly flawless, if limited by design.

“It just feels great,” Davenport said afterward. “Can’t take it for granted. Just start off one and oh. Get good momentum for the season and just going to build from there.”

From there, the season tested him.

A week later, he nearly knocked off eventual CFP participant Tulane — 17-of-24, 231 yards, two passing touchdowns and a rushing score in a 33-31 loss. Two weeks after that, he threw two interceptions in a 38-20 loss to Coastal Carolina, the worst outing of his season. In between, he went to Auburn and threw for 170 yards and two touchdowns in a 31-15 loss that was closer than the score suggested.

The middle of the schedule ground him down. A walk-off field goal loss to Arkansas State, 15-14. An overtime loss at Troy where he threw two touchdown passes and ran for 72 yards but came up one play short. Five losses in six games between late September and early November.

Through it, the turnovers stayed manageable. In every game Davenport threw an interception, South Alabama lost — all five of them. All four wins came in games where he threw none. The interceptions were the difference between close and over.

The back half of the season revealed something else: Davenport evolved as a runner. Seven of his nine rushing touchdowns came in the final seven games. Against UL Monroe, he ran for 50 yards and two scores in a 26-14 win. Against Southern Miss, the same — two rushing touchdowns in a 42-35 victory.

His best game came on Oct. 23 at Georgia State — 16-of-22, 280 yards, two passing touchdowns and a rushing score in a 38-31 road win. A 209.6 passer rating. It was the game that showed what the offense could be when everything clicked.

After the Morgan State opener, Applewhite had said they were easing Davenport in — “Let’s make sure we don’t put this guy in bad situations and let’s make sure we get him in the best situations possible before we just kind of cut him loose.”

By October, they’d cut him loose. By November, he was the offense.

The Hard Part

The final numbers tell a complete story. Davenport threw for 2,073 yards on 200-of-294 passing — a 68 percent completion rate — with 12 touchdowns and six interceptions. He added 325 rushing yards and nine touchdowns on 116 carries. Combined: 2,398 total yards. Twenty-one touchdowns.

But the record was 4-8. Three and five in the Sun Belt.

Davenport has already answered the questions that most quarterbacks with his background never get to answer. Can a fourth-string transfer who sat out a year compete for a starting job against a four-star? Yes. Can he hold it for a full season? He started every game. Can he produce? Twenty-one touchdowns say he can.

What he hasn’t answered yet is the one that matters most to a fan base that has watched this program cycle through stretches of promise and frustration: Can he lead a team that wins consistently?

Ask Davenport where he sees himself in five years and the answer comes without hesitation: “I want to go to the league honestly. I see myself in the league, developing, getting better, bonding, connecting with people. Also starting clothing. Doing more stuff with designing, owning businesses. Helping the community.”

The last thing he does every night is the same. “Pray,” he said. “Gotta get right.”

An architecture major off the field, Davenport has spent four years constructing something on it — a career that started with an emergency rep nobody expected and grew into an established starting job nobody can take from him. The blueprint is drawn. The 2026 season is where he builds it.