GAME 1
RMU (0-0) @ No. 2 James Madison (1-0)
Saturday, February 27, 2021 • Noon
Bridgeforth Stadium (24,877) • Harrisonburg, Va.

Audio: RMU Athletics Gameday App
Talent: Chris Shovlin (pxp) & Brian Cleary (color)
Video: FloSports ($)
Talent: Curt Dudley (pxp) & Karl Magenhofer (color)
Twitter: @RMUFootball • Instagram: @RMU_Football
 
Slant Routes
 
- The RMU football team opens its 2021 spring season and 27th season of NCAA Division I football Saturday with a Noon kickoff against No. 2 James Madison at Bridgeforth Stadium in Harrisonburg, Va.
 
- The Colonials are led by Bernard Clark, Jr., who is in his third season as head coach. He was named the 2019 Northeast Conference (NEC) Co-Coach of the Year and was also a finalist for the 2019 Eddie Robinson Award, bestowed annually to the NCAA FCS Coach of the Year and is one of the STATS FCS Legacy Awards.
 
- At a press conference at the UPMC Events Center June 15, 2020, RMU announced it was joining the Big South as an associate member. In early August of 2020, the Big South announced it delayed its fall sports seasons until spring. The Colonials will compete in their first season as a member of the Big South this spring with a four-game league schedule.
 
- According to a poll of Big South head coaches and a media panel, the Colonials were picked to tie for fourth in the conference in the 2021 spring season. Monmouth was selected as preseason favorite, while Kennesaw State was tabbed second. Charleston Southern was picked third, followed by RMU and Gardner-Webb.
 
- The Colonials return 42 letterwinners and 14 starters from a 2019 squad that posted an overall record of 7-5 (.583), including a mark of 6-1 (.857) in the Northeast Conference. Included among RMU's returning starters are six on offense, six on defense and two on special teams.
 
- Junior George Martin returns as the starter under center for RMU. In 11 games in 2019, Martin passed for 1,348 yards and 11 touchdowns, completing 52 percent (102-for-196) of his attempts while also rushing for three scores.
 
- The Colonials return four starters on the offensive line, including seniors Trevor Hicks, Dylan Young and Eric McAllister II as well as redshirt junior Bussy Remaley. Both Hicks and Remaley were each named to the 2019 All-NEC Second Team.
 
- Redshirt junior running back Alijah Jackson returns for RMU in 2021 and is coming off a 2019 campaign in which he ranked second in the NEC in average rushing yards per game (88.3) and third in all-purpose yards per game (103.5). Jackson rushed for 971 yards and four touchdowns en route to being named to the 2019 All-NEC First Team. 
 
- Senior kicker Nick Bisceglia, also named to the 2019 All-NEC First Team, enters the 2021 spring season ranked fifth all-time in program history in points with 146. He tied for the NEC lead in field goals (12) and was also a perfect 33-for-33 in point after attempts.
 
- Junior linebacker Aniello Buzzacco led the NEC in 2019 in both tackles (131) and tackles per game (10.9) en route to earning All-NEC Second Team accolades. Buzzacco ranked fifth in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) in total tackles, registering at least 10 stops in a game seven times.  
 
- Returning as starters on the interior of the defensive line for RMU in 2021 is senior Supilani Mailei and redshirt junior Izon Pulley. The duo combined 87 tackles in 2019, with Mailei leading the Colonials in tackles for loss (7).
 
- Redshirt senior cornerback Tavin Harville returns in 2021 after leading RMU last season in passes defended (13) and interceptions (3). He also recorded 42 tackles, including 21 solo stops.
 
- Redshirt junior safety Jacob White finished third for the Colonials in tackles in 2019 with 81 stops, including 46 solo takedowns. He recorded nine passes defended, including a pair of interceptions.
 
- RMU opens its first Big South campaign Saturday, March 13, with a Noon kickoff against Monmouth at Joe Walton Stadium after taking on JMU.

JAMES MADISON LINKS
- Game Notes (PDF)
- Audio
- Video ($)
- Live Stats
- RMU Athletics Gameday App
 
Buzz Lightyear - Linebacker Aniello Buzzacco established an RMU single-season school record for tackles in 2019, racking up 131 stops in 12 games, including 52 solo takedowns. Buzzacco recorded each of his seven double-digit tackle efforts in RMU's final nine contests of the season, averaging 12.4 stops during that span. Of the top 10 tacklers for the Colonials from 2019, RMU returns seven of those student-athletes. Included among that group are safety Jacob White (81), linebacker Brady Ours (53) and defensive lineman Supliani Mailei (48). Buzzacco, meanwhile, has amassed 144 career tackles in two seasons for the Colonials and enters the 2021 spring campaign as RMU's active leader in the category.
 
In The Trenches - RMU returns four of its five starters on the offensive line for the 2021 spring campaign, and the Colonials will also get a boost with the return of redshirt senior center Eric McAllister II. McAllister started the first eight games of the 2019 campaign before suffering a season-ending injury. He enters the 2021 spring campaign with 30 career starts. The elder statesman of the offensive line, however, is senior Trevor Hicks. Earning a spot on the 2019 All-Northeast Conference (NEC) Second Team, Hicks owns 31 career starts for RMU at left tackle, including 24 straight entering Saturday's game at James Madison.
 
Action - The beneficiary of a veteran offensive line for RMU is redshirt junior running back Alijah Jackson, who was named to the 2019 All-Northeast Conference (NEC) First Team after rushing for 971 yards and four touchdowns in 11 games. He enters the 2021 spring season with 1,539 career rushing yards in 18 games, an average of 85.5 yards per contest. He ranks seventh all-time in program history and is just 224 yards shy of cracking the top five. Jackson also owns nine rushing touchdowns, which is tied for 10th at RMU.
 
Points On The Board - Senior kicker Nick Bisceglia enters the spring 2021 season with 146 points on his career, which ranks fifth all-time at RMU. He finished a perfect 33-for-33 in point after attempts in 2019 and enters the year having converted each of his last 36 PATs dating back to the 2018 season. Overall on his career, Bisceglia is 77-for-79 (97.5%) in point after attempts and ranks third among kickers in scoring in program history. Former kicker Jeff Carlo (1998-2001) owns the program record for points (250), while Nathan DiLorenzo (2003-06) ranks fourth all-time with 180 points.
 
The Other Side - The first season for redshirt senior Tavin Harville on defense in 2019 could be considered a success. After spending two years as a wide receiver, Harville posted a team-high 13 passes defended in his first year as a defensive back, including three interceptions. Over RMU's final seven games of 2019, Harville posted 10 passes defended, including seven breakups.
 
Still On Top - Inaugural RMU running back Tim Hall (1994-95) finished with 2,908 rushing yards in two seasons as a member of the Colonials. He accomplished the feat in 393 carries an average of 7.40 yards per attempts. That yards per rush remains No. 1 in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) record book entering the spring 2021 campaign, a span that eclipsed 25 years last fall.

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