Red Flash's Rinella A Do-It-All Threat

This Saturday when James Madison hosts St. Francis at 6 p.m., it marks the first time the Red Flash’s do-it-all standout squares off with the only punt returner in the FCS with better statistics.

Last year, the Dukes’ D’Angelo Amos led the country with three punt-return scores while Rinella was right behind with two.

“I think it’s fun,” Rinella said. “I’m sure there will be a little friendly competition between the two of us to see what I’m able to do, see what he’s able to do; so I definitely think that helps add some fun to the game.”

If you’ve never heard of Rinella before, he’ll be easy to spot when the game kicks off at Bridgeforth Stadium. Rinella, a 5-foot-11, 200-pounder, starts at safety, punt returner and kick returner for St. Francis and was the Northeast Conference Special Teams Player of the Week for his effort in the Red Flash’s season-opening win over Lehigh this past Saturday.

“He had a couple of long returns last week in both kickoff return and punt return,” first-year Madison coach Curt Cignetti said.

Rinella’s 61-yard kickoff return set St. Francis’ offense up in Lehigh territory late in the first half. He also had a 26-yard punt return to go along with a 34-yard interception return.

“Special teams are a big part of the game,” Rinella said. “It’s one-third of the game, ultimately, and everyone else on special teams makes it a lot easier for me when I return the ball. They got to do all the hard work upfront blocking for me and I just got to read off them, so they make my job on special teams a lot easier.

“Then, on the defensive side, I got 10 other guys doing their job. I’ve got my own job to do, so just having that trust in everyone else on the defense to do their job makes it a lot easier for me to balance both special teams and defense.”

In the past, he’s even touched the ball on offense, too. He had six carries for 60 yards and a 19-yard touchdown run in a win over Bryant last season and had a career-long 49-yard run for a score against Robert Morris in 2017.

The senior, who has played in 34 career games, said he’s eager to showcase his skill set versus No. 2 JMU since the Dukes have one of the better programs in the FCS. St. Francis has only matched up with two other ranked opponents — No. 22 Liberty in 2017 and No. 9 Villanova in the 2016 postseason — during Rinella’s career at the school.

“Being from a small school like St. Francis, we feel like we’ve been looked over pretty much throughout our whole high school careers,” Rinella said, “even college careers, so we just want to go out there and show we can play with the best.”

Rinella, a Collegeville, Pa., native, said he’s happy with what he’s done in his time at St. Francis to this point.

“A lot of the schools that recruited me were the NEC schools — Wagner, Sacred Heart, Robert Morris,” Rinella said. “I had some [Colonial Athletic Association] interest, but Villanova was the main one.

“I’m from the Philadelphia area, so [Villanova] is about 30 minutes from me, but ultimately I had a great connection with the defensive coaches here at St. Francis and I really thought our mindsets were similar. So, to be able to play with someone with the same mindset as you and with a chip on your shoulder, I thought it was the perfect fit.”

The Dukes allowed only 4 punt-return yards on five punts and gave up an average of just 18 yards per kickoff return in their loss to West Virginia this past weekend.

“Our effort was excellent. Our coverage was excellent,” Cignetti said. “And really that’s all it comes down to every single week. You’ve got to give excellent effort. You’ve got to stay in your lane. You’ve got to do your job and you’ve got to tackle in space.”