Dianna Marie Russini (born February 11, 1983) is an American

sports journalist Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in a par ...

who currently works as an NFL reporter and insider for

The Athletic ''The Athletic'' is a subscription-based sports journalism department of ''The New York Times''. It provides national and local coverage in 47 North American cities as well as the United Kingdom. ''The Athletic'' also covers national stories ...

. She had previously worked for several years at ESPN as an NFL analyst and insider, appearing frequently on NFL Countdown and '' NFL Live''. Russini joined ESPN and became a '' SportsCenter'' anchor in July 2015. Prior to being hired by ESPN, she worked as the main sports anchor for

WRC-TV WRC-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Washington, D.C., serving as the market's NBC outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Class A television service, Class A Telemundo outlet W ...

in Washington, D.C. Born in

The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

, Russini grew up in Norwood, New Jersey, and attended Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan, where she was All State in soccer, basketball, softball and track. She played soccer for four seasons at

George Mason University George Mason University (GMU) is a Public university, public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father ...

. In total, she scored seven goals and recorded one assist in 51 appearances for George Mason. At the time she joined the network, she was the youngest reporter hired at WNBC in New York City as a reporter. She moved to sports soon after moving to Seattle as a reporter and anchor for CSN Northwest, having also worked for News 12 Westchester and NBC stations

WNBC WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey� ...

, and WVIT. In July 2015, Russini joined ESPN after Disney executives saw her sportscast in DC. She served as a SportsCenter anchor and provided sideline reporting, with Tom Luginbill, for ESPN’s XFL Saturday afternoon games. 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 is slated to make appearances on their video platforms and on podcasts.

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* 1983 births Living people American people of Italian descent American sports journalists American sports podcasters American women television journalists ESPN people American women's soccer players 21st-century American sportswomen Soccer players from New York (state) Women's association football forwards George Mason Patriots women's soccer players NFL announcers Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan alumni People from Norwood, New Jersey Journalists from the Bronx American sports announcers XFL (2020–2023) broadcasters 21st-century American women journalists 21st-century American journalists {{US-sport-bio-stub