SANJOSE, Calif. — A record-setting defensive tackle at Slippery Rock University, Matt Kinsinger has since moved to the other side of the football.

And he's looking to become a three-time champion.

Kinsinger, 30, is the starting fullback for the San Jose SaberCats of the Arena Football League. He was part of AFL championship teams with San Jose in 2002 and 2004.

The SaberCats (15-3) take a 12-game winning streak into Arena Bowl XXI at 3 p.m. July 29 against the Columbus Destroyers in New Orleans.

At 6-foot-1, 262 pounds, Kinsinger won't win many foot races carrying a football. Since he's playing on a condensed field surrounded by a wall, he doesn't have to.

"This is a passing league,"Kinsinger admitted. "I'm a glorified lineman who gets to have the football stuffed in his belly every once in a while."

Kinsinger has 25 carries for 47 yards and six touchdowns this season. He scored on a pair of 1-yard runs in the SaberCats' 61-49 win over Chicago in the AFLsemifinal round last week.

The league's leading rusher, Nashville's Dan Alexander, rushed for 426 yards and 41 touchdowns. By comparison, SaberCats quarterback Mark Grieb has 4,605 passing yards and 100 touchdowns.

"Running is situational in this league, usually in short-yardage situations or at the goal line,"Kinsinger said. "But fullback is the most physical position on the field.

"When you're playing football on a short field made of artificial turf with walls for sidelines ... it's a train wreck every play," he added.

Kinsinger set SRUrecords by recording 32 sacks and 60 tackles for loss in his career, along with 12 sacks in a season, during his years at The Rock.

He was the type of bull-rushing lineman he's called upon to block today.

"There's 250-pound linebackers with all kinds of speed trying to get around you, 300-pound linemen trying to run through you,"Kinsinger said. "It's high impact all the time."

Now in his seventh season in the AFL and his fifth with San Jose, Kinsinger has played fullback throughout his pro career and has paid the price. He missed part of the 2004 season with a cervical strain and part of the 2005 campaign with a leg injury.

He signed a one-year contract with the Las Vegas Gladiators in 2006 as a fullback-linebacker, but the team won only five games.

This season, the AFLaltered its requirement of players having to play on both sides of the ball. Players only had to play offense or defense in 2007.

"A lot of guys lost their jobs,"Kinsinger said. "I was fortunate to catch back on with San Jose as a fullback."

He said the SaberCats are consistent winners in the AFLbecause the program is run in similar fashion to SRU's football program.

"I owe where I'm at now to The Rock football program,"Kinsinger said. "The type of coaches I had there have positively influenced my life.

"(Former Pittsburgh Steeler)Keith Willis was my defensive line coach and now coaches the defensive line at Boston College. (SRUhead coach)George Mihalik always stressed education first.

"SRUdidn't always recruit the best athletes, but they recruited character and won as a team. San Jose does the same thing. Like The Rock, character means as much as your 40-time around here."

Kinsinger graduated from SRU in 1999 with a degree in occupational safety and health. He was a Division IIAll-American in 1998, helping The Rock reach the national semifinals that season.

"Football will always be in my blood," he said.