Bishop dressed in 67 games for Toronto over four seasons
from 2002 to 2005. He played a significant role in helping the Argos win the
2004 Grey Cup Championship, finishing with a 4-3-1 regular season record as a
starter. His best CFL game statistically was on August 24, 2004 when he threw
for 300 yards and rushed for 96 yards on route to a win over Winnipeg at Rogers
Centre. His heroics earned him the CFL Offensive Player of the Week award.
Bishop has seen extensive time in the Arena Football League
over the past several seasons and is the league record holder for rushing yards
in a single season (459) and a single game (100). The former Heisman trophy
candidate, who was the runner-up to current Argonauts RB Ricky Williams in
1998, recently played with the Chicago Rush and participated in seven games
helping them to the 2006 league championship.
Michael Bishop #17
Quarterback
6’2”, 215 lbs.
Kansas State
Born: May 15, 1976
Galveston, Texas
5th Year Argo / 5th Year CFL
Import
Acquired:
Signed with Toronto as a CFL free agent on August 11, 2006.
2006: Played 7 games with the Chicago Rush, completing 60.4%
of his passes for 10 TDs and a 94.7 passer efficiency rating…Part of Arena Bowl
Championship team.
2005: Returned to Grand Rapids Rampage (AFL) in January…Set
all-time AFL single game rushing record of 100 yards (05/02/05) and named AFL
Player of the Week, became first member of Grand Rapids club to ever be named
Player of the Week…named Offensive Player of the Game four times…Shattered the
AFL single season rushing record tallying 459 yards on the ground…Arrived at
Argonauts training camp on June 5…Played in 18 games for Toronto, starting
two…Week 6, dressed as backup QB and entered the game in the third quarter when
Damon Allen fell to injury, threw for 111 yards and 1 TD in 1.5 quarters of
play…Week 7, made first start of the season against Montreal (12/08/05) at QB
before being relieved by Damon Allen following halftime…Week 18, made second
start of season in loss to Ottawa at Frank Clair Stadium…Signed a 2-year
contract with the Chicago Rush (AFL) on November 1…2005 Playoffs Dressed as
backup QB in East Division Championship loss to Montreal at Rogers Centre.
2004: Signed with the Grand Rapids Rampage (AFL) February
25…saw action in five games…returned to Toronto in time for training
camp…Dressed primarily as a backup QB but started in Weeks 11-18 & 20 for
injured Damon Allen…Week 9, dressed as backup QB and entered game in 3rd
quarter for injured Damon Allen against Montreal and completed 3 of 10 passes
for 39 yards (LG 21) with 2 INT…Week 10 vs WPG (24/08/04), started his first
contest since Sept. 15, 2002 and looked sharp completing 16 of 27 passes for
career highs including (59.3%) for 300 yards (LG 67) and 1 TD, also collected
10 carries for 96 yards (LG 29), including one for a TD, was named CFL’s
Offensive Player of the Week for first time in his career…Week 16 vs WPG (18/09/04),
set a single game career-high with 3 TD passes…Returned to backup role vs HAM
in Week 19, behind Damon Allen…Week 20, started vs Montreal and left the game
in the first quarter in favour of Damon Allen…2004 Playoffs Dressed as backup
QB behind Damon Allen vs Hamilton in East Semi-Final…Dressed as backup QB
behind Damon Allen in East Championship vs Montreal…Grey Cup Championship
Dressed as backup QB behind Damon Allen in win vs BC, entered the game in the
third quarter and completed 3 of 4 passes for 38 yards (LG 18) and rushed twice
for 7 yards (LG 5).
2003: Dressed in all 18 games…dressed as Toronto’s third QB
in opening loss…replaced Marcus Brady at QB in the fourth quarter of Toronto’s
49-8 victory over Hamilton…dressed as the third QB from weeks 2 to 5…dressed as
the third QB and entered game vs Calgary in week 6…Entered week 7 game against
the Lions for one series…dressed as a third QB in week 8 and entered the game
in week 9 completing 2 of 7 pass attempts for 53 yards with 1 INT…dressed as third
QB in weeks 10 to 17 and saw no action…Entered week 18 game vs Montreal and saw
action in the fourth quarter…Week 19 dressed as third QB…2003 Playoffs Dressed
as the third QB in East Semi-Final vs B.C….dressed in the East Championship as
the third QB but quickly became the backup when Allen was sidelined with an
injury and Marcus Brady entered the game…Bishop made one hail-mary pass attempt
on the final play of the game.
2002: Rights acquired by the Toronto Argonauts, along with
two 2002 late round draft choices (DL Chuck Walsh & WR Darryl Ray), from
the Calgary Stampeders in exchange for LB Michel Dupuis, a 2003 first-round
draft choice (LB Emmanuel Casseus) and a conditional 2002 draft pick (TE Deitan
Dubuc) on March 26, 2002…Started 5 games at quarterback for the Argos in his
rookie season…Listed behind veteran Stanley Jackson on the pre-season depth
charts…earned the first start of his CFL career against the B.C. Lions on July
9 and led the team to a 30-22 win…suffered an injured hamstring in his next
start against Edmonton, but came back to start the next week (Week 5) against
Winnipeg…gave way to veteran Reggie Slack as the team’s starter in Week 6
against Ottawa…started against Hamilton in Week 10 and threw for a score and
ran for another as Toronto lost 22-14 in the Labour Day Classic…came on in
relief of injured starter Reggie Slack in Week 11 for a 30-25 win over
Ottawa…started against Saskatchewan in Week 12 but gave way to newly-signed Jim
Ballard in the second half in a 40-11 loss to the Riders.
2001: Spent time in the training camps of both the New England Patriots and Green Bay Packers in 2001…after spending two seasons with
the Patriots was released by New England on August 20 and claimed off waivers
by Green Bay… released by Green Bay on August 25…started in six games for the
Frankfurt Galaxy of NFL Europe...In his best game he completed 19 of 26 passes
for 233 yards, including one touchdown and one interception before having to
leave the game vs. Berlin with an injured hamstring in Week Five.
2000: Played in eight games with the Patriots in
2000...Indianapolis (10/8): Completed his first professional pass attempt for a
44-yard hail-mary TD to Tony Simmons on the last play of the first
half...became the first player since Pat Haden to complete his first NFL pass
for 40 or more yards.
1999: Listed among the Patriots’ inactive players for 15 of
their 16 games…was active for the Patriots’ game vs. Miami (10/17), but did not
play...In four preseason games, completed 17 of 34 passes for 299 yards and
three touchdowns.
College: Bishop started in all 25 games (including bowl
games) during his two seasons at Kansas State and posted a 22-3 (.880)
record…finished second in the 1998 Heisman Trophy voting to Ricky Williams...
holds the school career records with 23 rushing touchdowns and 1,314 yards
rushing for quarterbacks (11th overall)...started at Blinn (Texas) Junior
College during 1995-96 season and went 24-0 with two NJCAA national titles.
Personal: Michael Paul Bishop was born the son of Artis and
Ethel Bishop...All-Montgomery County, All-City and All-State selection at
Willis (Texas) High...two-year starter who averaged 221.2 yards per game
passing as a senior...majored in sociology at Kansas State...Michael has one
daughter, Nia, and enjoys writing poetry and listening to R&B music… cousin
of Academy Award-winning actor Jamie Foxx.