Vaccaro grinds it out

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This article was published 03/12/2024 (619 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Giordano Vaccaro wasn’t raised in a football family.

He was thrust into soccer at a young age — in part due to his strong Italian background — and was also avidly interested in hockey, a sport he played for 10 years.

Football? Not so much. He played his first season on the defensive line with his local community club, the Corydon Comets, in elementary school. He never enjoyed it; instead he found it quite “boring.”

Today, football is the sport he loves. Vaccaro, now 21, begins most days with an early-morning practice session.

It’s a “grind mentality” going on eight years and is what helped the third-year left guard from the University of Manitoba Bisons win the JP Metras Award this season as U SPORTS’ Lineman of the Year.

“It’s truly an honour,” said Vaccaro in a recent interview with the Free Press. “It’s cool to look back and see how far I’ve come up until this point.”

Vaccaro, who joined the Bisons in 2022, hasn’t missed a start the last three seasons under head coach Brian Dobie, who is retiring after coaching the team for 29 years.

“He (Dobie) is a huge inspiration for me — I look up to him as a mentor and a leader,” Vaccaro said. “Believing in an 18-year-old coming in and offering me a scholarship and a starting spot — I can’t thank him enough.”

Vaccaro said he entered his first university season with realistic expectations, knowing a starting spot would not likely be available for a freshman on a competitive squad.

He was surprised, however, as Dobie and Bison offensive line coaches, Terry Watson and Jeff Ready, gave him an opportunity to play immediately.

“They believed in me and let me compete for a spot, and I’m very grateful for that,” he said.

Vaccaro helped Manitoba’s offence gain more than 2,016 rushing yards in 2024. It’s a big factor in how he became the fifth Bison to receive the JP Metras honours and the first to do so since 2015.

He is also the first Bison offensive lineman to earn back-to-back recognition as a Canada West all-star and first team All-Canadian.

Vaccaro knows hard work goes a long way, but said his achievements wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for several of his mentors prior to university.

They include Stacy Dainard, St. Paul’s High School varsity football head coach.

Up until Grade 9, Vaccaro had no interest in pursuing football. That was, until Dainard pushed him into giving the sport a crack.

“I gave it a go, and I think a switch just kind of flipped,” Vaccaro said. “He (Dainard) really ignited my passion for football.”

As Vaccaro continued to build on his skills throughout high school under Dainard, he was able to play a sizable role in guiding the Crusaders to a championship season in 2019, just before the COVID-19 pandemic struck.

During high school, Vaccaro also enlisted the help of Recruit Ready, a Winnipeg-based football training program.

“They brought me into the program, and they looked over me and mentored me,” Vaccaro said.

‘They’ refers to Recruit Ready coaches Kelly Butler and Brad Black, who’ve been alongside Vaccaro since he was 14.

Butler, who specializes in the offensive line position, and Black, who focuses on strength and conditioning, work with Vaccaro during early morning training at 6:30 a.m.

They have helped Vaccaro refine his skills on the O-line and have developed him into the 6-3, 305-pound giant he is today. Most of all, though, Butler and Black helped cement Vaccaro’s football aspirations as a reality by showcasing his potential for collegiate coaches.

“They helped me realize that I could take my skill to another level — it was honestly eye-opening,” he said. “They are both some of my biggest mentors.”

Although Vaccaro came up short of landing a spot on a NCAA Division 1 roster, Recruit Ready did help him make the Bisons squad.

Looking ahead to his fourth year with the Bisons, Vaccaro is working with the team’s strength and conditioning coach, Cole Scheller, to make sure his body is in peak form for the beginning of next season.

Scheller has made a specific program for Vaccaro to work on in the off-season: running and lineman combative drills in the morning, weight training in the afternoon. Vaccaro also continues to work two to three times a week with Butler and Black.

“Coach Kelly (Butler) told me to ‘Always stay hungry and humble,’ and coach Brad (Black) always says, ‘Nothing but hard work,’ so the grind never stops,” Vaccaro said.

As for his nutrition plan, Vaccaro said there’s only one thing he needs to do as an offensive lineman, and that’s eat.

“I’m one of the guys working in the trenches, so constantly eating is a necessity to keep up the weight,” said Vaccaro. “My mom and my grandma are a huge help in that regard with all the food they make.”