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<\/p>\nVaccaro has a definite image he wants to project to CFL officials in each sit-down.<\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope they see a hard-working guy, a humble individual,\u201d he said. \u201cSomeone who\u2019s ready to go play for an organization and give it his all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vaccaro appeared in all 12 of Purdue\u2019s games in 2025, seeing action on offence and special teams. He played 22 snaps in the Boilermakers\u2019 season finale, a 56-3 loss to eventual NCAA champion Indiana on Nov. 28.<\/p>\n
\u201cProving to myself mentally that last game that I could play at this level was a good step for me,\u201d Vaccaro said. \u201cEvery day I wanted to show up and be the best version of myself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the biggest thing I learned (at Purdue) was to trust yourself, trust your training and trust the process. Wherever life takes you, wherever football takes you, just go with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vaccaro transferred to Purdue after spending the first three years of his collegiate career at Manitoba. In 2024, he captured the J.P. Metras Trophy as Canadian university football\u2019s best down lineman and was named a first-team all-Canadian as a left guard.<\/p>\n
He helped the Bisons rush for a school-record 2,016 yards that also was tops in U Sports. Vaccaro cracked Manitoba\u2019s starting lineup at left tackle as an 18-year-old freshman, and in 2023 was a Canada West all-star and first team all-Canadian at left guard.<\/p>\n
Vacarro began playing football at Winnipeg\u2019s St. Paul\u2019s High School. He transferred to Clearwater Academy International in Florida for his senior season when the global pandemic forced the cancellation of football at the Manitoba institution.<\/p>\n
But it wasn\u2019t until he got to the University of Manitoba that Vaccaro began entertaining the possibility of a pro football career. He credits veterans Geoff Gray (NFL stints with Green Bay, Cleveland and the New York Jets, 2018-19 and 2021-23 with Winnipeg Blue Bombers) and Zach Williams (2019, 2021-present, Calgary Stampeders) with setting the standard for Bisons offensive linemen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d say where that switch really turned on was my freshman year at the U of M,\u201d he said. \u201cJust watching (Gray and Williams) play and then get drafted made me think maybe I could do something (with) this football career.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vaccaro certainly didn\u2019t hurt his \u201926 CFL draft stock at Purdue\u2019s pro day.<\/p>\n
He posted 28 reps in the 225-pound bench press, covered the 40-yard dash in 5.38 seconds and recorded a 29-inch vertical jump and eight-feet eight-inch broad jump. He ran the short shuttle in 4.83 seconds and three-cone drill in 7.94 seconds.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say I\u2019m happy, I\u2019m more satisfied,\u201d he said of his pro day results. \u201cI\u2019d love to do better on my 40, I had a figure in my head \u2026 and I feel like I wanted to touch 30 on the bench press.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike I said, I\u2019m satisfied with where I\u2019m at, But there\u2019s always room for improvement with my pro day, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vaccaro is on the radar of all nine CFL teams, as he was ranked No. 19 on the scouting bureau\u2019s winter list of the top-20 prospects for the April 28 draft. Ideally, returning to Manitoba with the Blue Bombers would be nice but Vaccaro is keeping an open mind regarding where he might end up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really open to any opportunity,\u201d he said. \u201cHonestly, I\u2019m looking for a team that wants me, can coach me and is one I can give my all to every day.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I don\u2019t like to look too far into the future. I don\u2019t know what the future holds so I really just focus on the day and winning it each and every one.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 27, 2026.<\/p>\n
Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vaccaro has a definite image he wants to project to CFL officials in each sit-down. \u201cI hope they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568578,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-568577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}