EDMONTON — Gio Vaccaro is about to become a very, very popular man. And the evidence of that was already visible to anyone who put eyeballs on him as soon as he arrived here for the Canadian Football League Draft Combine.

One moment the Winnipeg product is on the phone conducting an interview with The Canadian Press and the next he’s sitting down for a one-on-one with yours truly — an early start to what will be a ton of conversations the 6-3, 315-pound offensive lineman will have over the weekend.

There’s a growing buzz about Vaccaro, you see, so much so that the Purdue University/University of Manitoba product is likely have his name called out early when the CFL Draft goes on April 28th — perhaps as early as first overall.

“I can’t worry or think about that stuff at all,” said Vaccaro in a wide-ranging chat. “If I go first round, second round, third round, eighth round, it doesn’t matter. I’ll just be grateful for any opportunity. I don’t like getting ahead of myself.

“The big thing for me really is day by day. I don’t want to look into the future. If I’m the best version of myself every day and keep stacking those days, then the day will come that maybe an organization decides to take me.”

Vaccaro’s stock has skyrocketed lately because of his experience playing tackle, guard and centre at Manitoba and Purdue and his recent testing numbers at the Boilermakers’ Pro Day. He banged out 28 reps of the 225-pound bench press, ran a solid 5.38 40-yard dash and scored well in the other tests.

UM photos courtesy Zachary Peters

Asked to do a self-scout — and CFL coaches will adore this answer — he offered this:

“I’m a humble guy. Good leader. I love to hype up my teammates. And then on the football field, I’m a mauler. I love finishing guys and the strong part of my game is my run blocking.”

Vaccaro’s path to potentially being a first-round pick is a fascinating one. His dad Angelo works in the flooring business while Lisa, his mom, works in the senior care field. And it should be said his older brother Mateo is the one who really turned him on to football.

Gio, it turns out, didn’t pull on a helmet and shoulder pads for real until Grade 9 at St. Paul’s High School after spending the previous 13 years in hockey as a centre.

A really, really big centre.

“I was a big guy, and I played down the middle which, yes, was a bit weird,” he said with a grin.

By the time he reached Grade 9 he had a decision — head to Shaftesbury High School to play hockey or join his brother at St. Paul’s and attempt to crack the football team as a newbie to the game.

“It was my brother who talked me into playing,” he said. “And when I started, I wasn’t very good. I played D-line, I played O-line, hopping back in forth.

“I did not know a single thing about football other than watching my brother. I guess some of my athleticism from hockey transferred over to football — I’d like to say that, at least — but I learned a lot from my older brother. I wouldn’t say I was very good at all. It was the opposite.

“Then in my Grade 10 year I played O-line and it was like a switch was flipped. I made the varsity team, and my brother was in his senior year, and I got to play alongside him.”

The same thing would happen a few years later with the Bisons, albeit after a year in Florida at the Clearwater Academy. Vaccaro lost his senior year at St. Paul’s due to the COVID-19 pandemic and landed down south after Jesse Chincar, the head coach there, came across a post on his social media account.

“Coach Jesse, he found me on Twitter,” said Vaccaro. “I was posting a couple of workouts on Twitter and trying to get U Sports offers and he saw it and reached out to me.”

Vaccaro was part of a state championship winning team in Clearwater and then returned to Manitoba to play for Brian Dobie and alongside his brother.

What happened next is now part of Bison football folklore as Vaccaro started at left tackle as a freshman — the first in Dobie’s 29-year coaching career — and then moved inside to left guard for his sophomore season, where he was named an All-Canadian.

He took it one step further in 2024 by being named All-Canadian again AND capturing the JP Metras Award as the top lineman in the country – becoming just the second OL in Manitoba history to grab those honours and the first since Bart Evans in 1974.

He was also the first Bison since Chris Bochen in 2001-02 to to be named a back-to-back Canada West All-Star and First Team All-Canadian.

He then moved to Purdue, calling the decision to leave the Bisons one of the most difficult in his life.

“It was a 7-1 team, and it was Coach Dobie’s last year,” he said. “We were building something truly special and so to leave that program and move on was really hard. I was there for three years and had great teammates.

“But I also felt that maybe I had exhausted all my options there. I relied on my agent’s experience, asked him a bunch of questions, and when I had the opportunity to go down south to Purdue when they offered me a scholarship it was a no brainer.”

Vaccaro spent much of last year on the Boilermakers’ special teams units but did get a ton of work in a game against eventual national champion Indiana — a performance he felt was pivotal to prove to himself he could compete at that level.

All of this brings us back to this weekend. The Blue Bombers would be thrilled if Vaccaro was still available when they make their first selection, fourth overall, but the chatter seems to indicate he could go to Ottawa, Toronto or Edmonton with one of the first three picks.

“I grew up a Bomber fan,” he said. “Even though I was playing hockey for a long time, I watched a lot of games with my brother at Investors Group Field, now Princess Auto Stadium.

“Growing up watching guys like Collin Kornelson, AK Gassama go to their hometown team… that was surreal. Growing up around the Bombers, it would be cool if it could happen but I’ll be happy to play anywhere. This has been my dream for awhile now.”