St. John's wide receiver Riley Schwellenbach finding success on the gridiron and baseball field

The St. John's football season took on a different complexion when they blew out rival Bethel University in week four.

"It was just fun to make plays in front of a huge crowd. Score touchdowns. Defense played lights out. All three phases of the game came and played that day," Johnnies Senior Wide Receiver Riley Schwellenbach said. "Can't win the MIAC if you don't beat Bethel. Obviously, we still have five more games we have to win. But if we had lost that game, you can pretty much kiss your hopes of winning the MIAC away, just like last year."

Schwellenbach is the wide receiver one for a pass-heavy, offensive juggernaut. At 5 feet 9 inches, he's not usually a jump ball target, but he's a threat everywhere else.

"We knew coming into this year he was gonna have to take more of the load and he has not disappointed," Head Coach Gary Fasching said. "He's been tremendous; practices as hard as he plays on game day. He's certainly one of the leaders on our team.

It's his fourth season at St. John's University, twice the amount of football seasons Schwellenbach played in high school at East Ridge.

"I ended up quitting basketball after my sophomore year and wanted to play something other than baseball," Schwellenbach said. "So I talked to our starting quarterback and he said, 'You should come out and try football.' So I started working towards that in the summer, and I loved it."

Schwellenbach's first love is baseball. His Raptors went on a state title run in 2023, his senior year.

"We had a stacked team in high school. Our pitching staff had four Division 1 guys on it," he said, of the season that ended in a dogpile on the CHS Field infield. "Kind of something you can't describe. You just kinda black out. It's just so much adrenaline, so much fun, hope to be able to recreate that feeling here."

The baseball era is still ongoing; Schwellenbach is a two-sport star in Collegeville.

"It was definitely harder earlier on when I had to finish up with football practice, go right to baseball, finish with baseball practice, go right to football, but it's definitely tamed down a little bit now," he said.

Schwellenbach's lone college home run was an inside-the-parker. Last season he hit 320, and before it's all said and done, could be the Johnnies' all-time stolen base leader.

"Definitely not a home run hitter," he said. "More of a put the ball in play, play good defence, steal bases, more of an older school player." 

The focus right now is football. Last year, St. John's season was ended by eventual national champs River Falls in the third round of the NCAA tournament. The Johnnies' last national championship was in 2003. 

"It feels like a different team this year," Schwellenbach said. "Obviously, we've only played five games, so we can't get complacent. We gotta keep working every week like we have, but if we keep building on every win and improving every week, this team has all the tools that we need to make it far."