Bishop having good first year as YSU's punter

The freshman is averaging 39.4 yards on 29 punts -- eight of them inside the 20-yard line.
& lt;a href=mailto:mollica@vindy.com & gt;By PETE MOLLICA & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- Two years ago, Joe Bishop was being recruited by Youngstown State as a kicker and a punter.
Bishop did both for St. Thomas Aquinas High in Stark County and was very good at both, but when he got to YSU, Bishop decided to go for the quickest route to get in the lineup.
The Penguins had a senior punter (Kosta Karapetsas) and a junior kicker (Jake Stewart) when Bishop first joined the program, so he decided to concentrate on punting.
But, the decision was made to redshirt Bishop.
"The coaches knew what was best for me and as it turned out it really was," said Bishop.
Off to strong start
The 5-foot-10, 185-pound redshirt freshman is off to a strong start this season. He goes into Saturday's home game against No. 2-ranked Western Illinois with a 39.4 average on 29 punts, and he's had eight of them stop inside the opponents' 20-yard line.
The fact that several of Bishop's punts have started inside the opponents' 50-yard line is a reason he's not averaging over 40 yards per punt.
"We work a lot on those short punts, trying to get the opposing team deep in their own territory," Bishop said. "It's something that I've really worked a lot on this year."
Two additions
Bishop and junior place kicker Nick Terracina have been two strong additions to the YSU special teams this season.
With Terracina being a junior, Bishop is already thinking about two years from now when he's a junior and the only returning kicker.
"I wouldn't mind doing both," he said. "But only if I'm the best we've got at both.
"It takes double the practice time to do both punting and kicker, but I would love to give it a try if the team needs me to do it," he added.
Bishop has had a long punt of 60 yards this year and several over 50 yards.
High school record
At St. Thomas, he averaged 42.8 yards per punt his senior season. He also set the school record for longest field goal with a 54-yard connection, and made seven field goals, four of which were 47 yards or more.
He also made 23-for-24 extra point kicks and was a first team All-Ohio selection in Division IV.
He also kicked off in high school, and 80 percent of his kicks were touchbacks; and he once kicked a 63-yard field goal in practice.
The Penguins (4-2, 1-0 Gateway) are coming off a 34-7 victory over Southwest Missouri State in their conference opener. Western Illinois (4-1, 1-0) is the defending Gateway Conference champion and pre-season pick to repeat.
The game is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. at Stambaugh Stadium.