FAYETTEVILLE — LaDarrius Bishop was a popular man Saturday night.
That happens when you score your first college touchdown on national television to put the finishing touches on a 21-point win at home, No. 2 of the young season.
The redshirt freshman, in the Razorbacks' 55-34 win over Colorado State, made the first splash play of his Arkansas career late in the fourth quarter, scooping up a Rams fumble and returning it 25 yards for a score.
“It was unreal. It was big,” said Bishop, in the Fred Smith Center interview room for the first time Tuesday evening. “I feel like I helped the team out a lot doing that. It felt pretty good. It was unreal."
Although Bishop gets a majority of the glory for scoring on the play, he was quick to acknowledge that he doesn't reach the end zone without senior defensive tackle McTelvin Agim turning the play inside and linebacker Hayden Henry's backside pursuit of Rams running back Marvin Kinsey. Henry's hard hit on Kinsey jarred the ball loose, and Bishop was in the right place at the right time.
The Ashdown, Ark., native - one of two on the Razorbacks' roster - said it was his first score since Week 10 of his senior season with the Panthers. It came on the offensive side of the ball, too, on a jet sweep.
He was ecstatic to get on the field for several meaningful snaps Saturday.
"Just throw me in the water. Put me in deep water," said Bishop, who added he could not remember how he graded out in the game. "It’s getting me better and ready for better competition later in the season. I think it was pretty good for my first game.
"(Chad Morris) said I just need to work on a few more things technique-wise and getting my head on a swivel on the ball - really just technique."
Bishop, a former four-star prospect and a top-30 cornerback in the country by Rivals out of Ashdown, is cousins with starting cornerback Montaric Brown, who is dealing with a muscle strain, according to Morris. He said plenty of people in the town of roughly 4,500 reached out to him following the game, but one message stood out.
“After that touchdown celebration, everybody was blowing my phone up saying, ‘So proud of you,'" he said. "It really lifted me up. ... My head high school football coach (Matt Richardson texted me). I still talk to him like every day. He is kind of like a second father to me.
"He told me to stay positive and your time will come.”
At long last, Bishop's time did come. Patiently, he said, he has waited for his opportunity. As a true freshman in 2018, he played in only two games and totaled four snaps. Three of those came as a member of the Razorbacks' punt return team. He saw one snap in pass coverage in Arkansas' loss to LSU last November.
Bishop, who committed to Mississippi State then flipped following a visit from Morris, admitted it has been difficult for him at times to remain positive watching games from the sidelines. Saturday, though, he recorded a pass breakup in the fourth quarter to go with his defensive touchdown, Arkansas' second in as many weeks.
"It’s been pretty good," he said of his time with the Razorbacks, "but, I mean, I’ve been down - sometimes down - just waiting on my turn and getting ready every moment every week and just waiting."
Bishop is hopeful his fourth-quarter play against Colorado State in place of Brown will garner him more time on the field. He is unsure how much he will play against San Jose State this weekend, but if he does, he knows which Spartans players to be aware of.
“They look good,” he said. “They have two good receivers - 84 and 10 (Bailey Gaither, Tre Walker). As far as the defensive backs stand, that is what we are really focusing on - those two guys.”