‘You can’t win the lottery if you don’t play’: L-S alum continues to pursue NFL dream

SUDBURY — No matter the odds, Otto Zaccardo isn’t losing hope.

Ever since he earned a football scholarship with Syracuse University in 2019, the former Lincoln-Sudbury gridiron star has set his sights on doing one thing: playing in the National Football League (NFL).

“It’s a long shot for sure but there is a slight possibility,” Zaccardo, 26, said. “You can’t win the lottery if you don’t play.”

On Saturday, Zaccardo found himself in Houston for a private workout with the United States Football League (USFL) — the latest iteration of the professional football league that plays its games in the spring.

Zaccardo hopes his tryout left a good enough impression to have one of the eight USFL teams sign him. He then hopes the game tape he compiles from the USFL will serve as a springboard for a shot in the NFL.

“If you shoot for the moon and miss, you still end up in a pretty good spot,” Zaccardo said. “So I’ve always tried to set lofty goals and do everything I can possibly do to accomplish them.”

Betting on himself

Following a standout three-sport (football, basketball, track and field) career at Lincoln-Sudbury, Zaccardo (class of 2015) really wanted to play Division I college football.

So the Sudbury resident took a post-grad year at Worcester Academy but played in just two games for the Rams due to an injury. Syracuse ended up being the only school from a Power Five conference to offer him a spot as a walk-on.

“I took it and bet on myself,” Zaccardo said.

Zaccardo played in two games in his first two seasons with the Orange. As a junior in 2018, Zaccardo played in 13 contests and made his first career tackle against NC State. A year later, Zaccardo earned a scholarship as a senior.

“It was a big moment of validation,” he said.

“That’s who he is,” said Troy Shallow, Zaccardo’s former teammate at Lincoln-Sudbury. “Whatever he says he’s going to do; he goes and does it.”

Across 24 contests in four seasons with Syracuse, Zaccardo registered eight carries for 31 yards on offense and five tackles on special teams.

After playing Division I football — and watching the New England Patriots employ players under 6-feet like Danny Amendola, Julian Edelman, Danny Woodhead throughout the years — a seed was planted in the mind of the 5-foot-10, 210-pounder.

Why can’t he play in the NFL?

“I may not be that guy, that may not happen for me, but it is possible and does happen for guys who work really hard,” Zaccardo said. “You have to get fortunate and do the right things. But it’s worth at least trying because wouldn’t that be something if you get to accomplish that dream?”

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That dream, however, took a hit in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic canceled Zaccardo’s Pro Day at Syracuse before the NFL Draft.

“I just packed up my stuff and went home,” he said.

Zaccardo participated in a different variation of a Pro Day a year later, when he attended a combine in Virginia. He performed well, but still no NFL team called his agent. Instead the American Raptors, a professional rugby union team based in Glendale, Colorado, offered him a contract.

Zaccardo signed on to play the new sport and traveled to Uruguay and Canada before several injuries forced him to give up rugby last summer and return home to rehab. Back to full strength by the fall, Zaccardo was invited to a workout in Washington, D.C., for the XFL — the famed professional football league that was rebooted by WWE executive Vince McMahon in 2018 and acquired by a group helmed by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in 2020.

Yet again, Zaccardo didn’t receive a second call.

Workout plan:Former L-S football standouts put in the work in a makeshift garage gym

He then took a job as an assistant football coach at Concord-Carlisle and started a business with Shallow called “Güd Performance” — a personalized strength and conditioning training program designed for local college and high school athletes.

“It’s a tough, old-school mentality paired with the most modern and effective training techniques,” said Zaccardo of the company. “I think that’s the best of both worlds.”

“We want to build the best training possible for young athletes to achieve their dreams,” Shallow said.

No stone left unturned

On Tuesday, Zaccardo returned to his roots to prep for his tryout with the USFL.

Sporting a new haircut and trimmed goatee, the former Daily News All-Star for track and field performed speed and conditioning drills on the turf at Myers Field. He was optimistic heading into his latest football invite.

“You leave everything you have on the field and you wait to hear back,” Zaccardo said. “I just want opportunities where I'm gambling on myself.”

In Houston, Zaccardo and Shallow — a former Merrimack College and UMass Amherst football player — both performed combine drills, skill work and one-on-ones in the USFL tryout. The former Warriors were accompanied by Zaccardo’s father, Jeff, who has enjoyed watching his oldest son pursue his NFL dreams.

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“It’s just great to see him chasing after what he really wants,” Jeff said. “He’s really kind of been unwavering on that, sticking to his guns and to his goals and learning on the way.”

So far, Zaccardo’s willfulness has paid off. He played Division I football. He played rugby across the world. He owns his own strength training business. There’s still one item, however, that Zaccardo wants to check off his bucket list: making the NFL.

Whether he gets to do so or not, the football player from Sudbury feels like he’s already playing with house money.

“If I don’t make the NFL, I can live with that,” Zaccardo said. “But I’m going to do everything I can. As long as my legs work, I'm going to keep working, keep training and keep taking every opportunity I can get.”

Tommy Cassell is a senior multimedia journalist for the Daily News. He can be reached at tcassell@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @tommycassell44.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Lincoln-Sudbury, Syracuse grad Otto Zaccardo tries out for USFL