The Opponents: Villarrial, SFU Ready For 'Special' Trip To JMU

“It’s going to be a great challenge for us no matter who is coaching there,” the 10th-year SFU coach, who lost at JMU in 2012, 2013 and 2014, said. “But it becomes a little special with Curt [Cignetti] there.”

Cignetti, the first-year Dukes coach, and Villarrial have one of the same mentors — Cignetti’s father, Frank Cignetti Sr., a College Football Hall of Famer. Before Villarrial spent 11 seasons in the NFL suiting up for the Chicago Bears and Buffalo Bills, he played for Frank at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

“Big guy is part of who I am,” Villarrial said. “He got me up to IUP and really made me into who I was. He never took anything for granted, a blue-collar and a lunch-pail guy that just came to work everyday. So you know, I have a lot of respect for him and a lot of respect for the family.”

Villarrial said he congratulated the younger Cignetti when he got the job at Madison this past December, but the two haven’t spoken since due to the meeting on the field that looms.

“Curt’s not going to let out any secrets,” Villarrial, who isn’t one to do so either, said with a chuckle.

But because Cignetti, from his father, and Villarial, from his college coach, learned the game in similar fashion, the pair of FCS headmen believe in some of the same philosophies.

Last season, St. Francis finished 4-7 overall and 2-4 in the Northeast Conference, but enter the 2019 campaign only three seasons removed from reaching the FCS playoffs for the first time in school history after it won the NEC in 2016.

“With Curt being with Nick [Saban] down at Alabama, they’re going to run a lot of power and play-action pass,” Villarrial said. “I think everybody is going through the [run-pass option] because it’s the big thing now in college football and you even see it trending in the NFL now as well. But, at the end of the day, you’ve got to be able to run the ball and that’s what it always comes down to.

“That’s something all successful teams can do, so it’s all going to be controlled up front and we’re kind a little younger up front, but we know what the challenge is for our defense against Curt.”

Despite inexperience in some spots of the defense, the Red Flash return key members of last year’s unit. Linebacker Da’Jon Lee was an All-NEC first-team choice and defensive back Nick Rinella was an All-NEC second-team selection. Defensive lineman Jalen Brown was the Defensive Rookie of the Year in the conference.

Lee had 57 tackles, 17.5 tackles for loss and eight sacks to go along with his FCS best six forced fumbles.

“Those are guys that you hope take that leadership role in your program,” Villarrial said. “They’re developing their own styles, but those are the guys we hope step up to the plate for us to bring the others along.”

On offense, St. Francis returns even less. Bear Fenimore, the starting quarterback last season, has graduated as have All-NEC first-team receiver Kamron Lewis and 2018 team-leading rusher Jymere Jordan-Toney.

Of the five quarterbacks on the current roster, only Jason Brown and Tyler Magaha appeared in action behind Fenimore last season.

“It’s an open competition and it really, truly has to be that,” Villarrial said. “I think anytime you name a starter too early, people get lazy, so I think it has to be an open competition to keep everyone hungry. Some guys don’t like to compete and if you keep it open, you find out who they are and if you don’t like to compete, you can’t be our quarterback. So we’re going to let it play out through the camp and we’ll see what happens.”

Villarrial said he’s looking for reliable starters to emerge at running back and wide receiver, too. The position on offense with the most stability are the guard spots as both starters — second-team all-NEC right guard Christian Eubanks and left guard Alec Shriner, a West Virginia transfer — return.

Aside from traveling to JMU, St. Francis will play at Lehigh and at Delaware State and host Merrimack and Columbia during the non-conference portion of its schedule. But if Villarrial were to lead the Red Flash to the postseason again, it’d be through winning the NEC as the league has never sent more than its automatic qualifier to the playoffs.

“I don’t like to talk about championships,” Villarrial said. “I like to talk about the process and improvement. We have to improve. We were 4-7 last year and there’s the should’ve, could’ve and would’ves, but at the end of the day we were 4-7. We were our own worst enemy and we got in our way, and that’s unfortunate, but we’ve got to keep improving and that’s the biggest thing we’re looking for.”