Dianna Russini | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Born | Dianna Marie Russini February 11, 1983 New York City, New York, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Education | George Mason University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Notable credit(s) | SportsCenter NFL Live | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Dianna Marie Russini (born February 11, 1983) is an American sports journalist who works as an NFL reporter and insider for The Athletic. [2] She previously worked for several years at ESPN as an NFL analyst and insider appearing frequently on NFL Countdown and NFL Live . She joined ESPN and became a SportsCenter anchor in July 2015. [3] Prior to being hired by ESPN, she worked as the main sports anchor for WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. [4]
Born in the Bronx, Russini grew up in Norwood, New Jersey and attended Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan, [5] where she was All State in soccer, basketball, softball, and track. She played soccer for four seasons at George Mason University in Fairfax County, Virginia. [6] [7] She scored seven goals and recorded an assist in 51 appearances for George Mason. [1] [8] [9]
At the time she joined the network, she was the youngest reporter hired at WNBC in New York City as a reporter. She switched to covering sports soon after moving to Seattle as a reporter and anchor for Comcast SportsNet Northwest (CSN Northwest), [10] having worked for News 12 Westchester and NBC stations WRC-TV, WNBC, and WVIT. [11] In July 2015, Russini joined ESPN after Disney executives saw a sportscast of hers in DC. She served as a SportsCenter anchor and provided sideline reporting with Tom Luginbill, for ESPN’s XFL Saturday afternoon games. [12] [13]
On August 11, 2023, it was reported that Russini would leave ESPN for The Athletic to be its lead NFL Insider. At The Athletic she makes appearances on their video platforms and on podcasts. [14]