Former NFL wide receiver Armon Binns is in his second season with the Youngstown State football program in 2023. He coaches the wide receivers for the Penguins.
In his first season in 2022, the wide receivers group had one of the most productive years in school history. Leading the way was Bryce Oliver who became the first YSU wide receiver to be named first-team All-MVFC since 2010.
Oliver finished the season with 59 catches for 821 yards and 10 touchdowns. The 10 receiving touchdowns were the most by a Penguin since 1983 and tied for the third-most in school history. Newcomers Max Tomczak and Latrell Fordham jumped right into the lineup and made a huge impact. Tomczak had 26 catches for 463 yards and two touchdowns while Fordham had 18 catches for 165 yards and a score. Brandon Alexander and Luke Hensley combined to make 14 receptions late in the season. The receivers caught 14 of YSU's 17 touchdown passes during the year while four had receptions of at least 39 yards.
Binns played in the NFL from 2011-15, spending time with Jacksonville, Cincinnati, Miami and Kansas City. He played in 11 career games for the Bengals and Dolphins, making five starts in 2012. He totaled 24 receptions for 277 yards and a TD. He missed the 2013 season due to an injury and signed with Kansas City in 2014.
Prior to coming to YSU, he was a member of the staffs at Cincinnati, Hampton and Notre Dame.
At Cincinnati, he was an offensive quality control coach in 2020-21. In 2021, the Bearcats finished the season 13-1 advancing to the College Football Playoff. UC won AAC Championships in each of his two seasons with the program.
Binns spent the 2019 campaign as the wide receivers coach at Hampton. He coached WR Jadakis Bonds, a First-Team All-Big South Conference selection who set the school's single-season mark and lead the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision during the regular season with 15 TD receptions.
Prior to joining the Pirates staff, Binns was the senior offensive analyst at Notre Dame in 2018. He worked with the wide receivers and scout team secondary, helping mentor Miles Boykin who led the Fighting Irish in receptions, yards, and receiving TDs during a 12-1 season which culminated with a College Football Playoff appearance.
Following the close of his professional playing career, Binns worked in private business in Arizona for two years.
Binns played in 41 games while at UC and he led the Bearcats in receiving over each of his final two seasons. He caught 61 for 888 yards and 11 TDs as a junior in 2009, including being part of the infamous game-winning 29-yard TD strike from Tony Pike which capped a 45-44 comeback win in the snow over Pitt, clinching a BIG EAST Conference title. In 2010, Binns hauled in 75 passes for 1,101 yards and 10 TDs as a senior earned first-team All-BIG EAST honors while capturing the Claude Rost MVP Award. He was inducted into the James P. Kelly UC Athletics Hall of Fame in 2019 along with the 2009 football team.
He received his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from UC in May 2012 and earned a master’s degree in family and human development from Arizona State in 2018.
Binns, a native of Pasadena, Calif., and his wife Lauren have three children, sons Noah and Eli and daughter Eden.
