Youngstown State began practice on Saturday, July 27th and they already have two-players earning some big mentions. The Youngstown duo earn preseason All-MVFC honorable mention.
Youngstown Duo Earn Preseason All-MVFC Honorable Mention
It was announced Wednesday, July 31st that Senior defensive end Shereif Bynum and junior defensive back Bryce Gibson were named preseason All Missouri Valley Football Conference Accolades.
Bynum who is from Belleville Michigan had a breakout season leading the Penguins with 11.5 tackles for loss and ranked second in sacks. He had 23 solo tackles and 37 total on the season. Gibson from Johnstown, Pennsylvania had a career-high 42 tackles (31 of them being solo), and a team-best 12 pass breakups.
That is only their stats during the 2018 season, however. Both have had good career stats at Youngstown State so far. Let’s go over these two and their football career as of 2019. We’ll start out with the senior first.
1.) Shereif Bynum
Bynum has been around the football program since 2015-2016 starting out as a redshirt freshman according to YSU.
Bynum would see some action against Robert Morris in 2016 and then played in five games during the 2017 season. In that same season, he was credited with four tackles, three of them being solo.
He would have two solo tackles against the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils and two tackles against the Indiana State Sycamores (one solo and assisted). One of them was a seven-yard loss. Bynum would then earn his first letter.
He had big-time plays in 2018 as well. He had 11 quarterback hurries, five solo tackles against the West Virginia Mountaineers, a pair of sacks against the Southern Illinois Salukis, a 16-yard sack against the Valparaiso Crusaders, got his first sack against the Butler Bulldogs and earned his second letter.
Before playing as a Penguin, he was a First-team All Michigan Division, earned honorable mention Metro West accolades by the Detroit news, and had 64 tackles and 14 sacks. He played quarterback, running back, and defensive end at Summit Academy. He also played baseball.
2.) Bryce Gibson
The junior has started all 22 games at cornerback so far as a Penguin. Last season, Gibson had career highs having 42 tackles (31 being solo), and broke up 12 passes.
His career as a Penguin started in 2017 where he was named to the Missouri Valley Football Conference All-Newcomer Team.
Gibson started 11 games, had 35 total tackles ( 24 solo tackles) and second on the team with seven pass breakups. His best games were against the North Dakota State Bison where he had five solo tackles, four tackles against Missouri State and Central Connecticut State.
Because of the help that Gibson provided on defense his Freshman year, the Penguins pass defense only allowed 143.7 yards per game and 46.7 percent on completions.
This led the FCS in yardage and the Penguins finished 6-5 that season due to some injuries that happened later on. Gibson would also earn his first letter with his career just starting out very strong.
Also in 2018, he improved and made some big plays against big teams in the FCS. Gibson opened the season with seven tackles against the Butler Bulldogs and also had season-best three pass breakups.
He had five solo tackles against the South Dakota State Jackrabbits and had a forced fumble against West Virginia.
Five tackles against the Indiana State Sycamores, four tackles against Southern Illinois, Northern Iowa, and broke up two passes against the South Dakota Coyotes. Gibson would earn his second letter as a Penguin.
High School Accolades
Before he attended Youngstown State University as a student-athlete, Gibson attended Archbishop Carroll and Greater Johnstown area high school where he played both running back and defensive back. During the playoff game with Johnstown, playing against Jersey Shore, Gibson played extremely well.
He returned the opening kickoff for a 72-yard touchdown and rushed for 120 yards and two touchdowns. Gibson was selected for the 2017 PSFCA East vs West All-Star Game. At Archbishop, Gibson had 48 total tackles during his sophomore season.
Gibson was also a track and field star as he was part of the 4×100-meter relay squad and advanced to the 2016 Class 3A State meet.
Looking Forward
As we continue looking at how the Youngstown duo earn preseason All-MVFC honorable mention, we look at what could be expected this season out of these two. Both of these players deserved this honorable mention for this upcoming 2019 college football season. Bynum is now a senior and wants to get back to the championship as a leader. Meanwhile, Gibson has another year as a Penguin. We will see what happens during this season and how these two will perform. Will it either be an increase from the last two seasons or will their performance decrease? We will just have to wait and see this season.
The Youngstown State Penguins open their 2019 football season on August 24th against the Samford Bulldogs in the Guardian Credit Union FCS Kickoff Classic at Montgomery Alabama.
Kickoff is 3pm eastern time on ESPN. Season Tickets are available on the official Youngstown State Sports Website.
