During the 2021 high school football season, Shady Spring senior Bryson Pinardo terrorized offenses from his linebacker position.
Recording 191 tackles on the year, Pinardo led the state and was named first-team all-state by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association.
Thursday afternoon, Pinardo reaped the benefits of an outstanding high school career.
With family, friends, coaches, teammates and supporters filling the Shady Spring gym, Pinardo signed a National Letter of Intent to play football at Glenville State.
“I don’t know many guys around here that have gone to the next level to play sports. It is very exciting, but very nerve-racking also,” Pinardo said. “The next level is a totally different atmosphere because you are not the ‘big guy’ anymore. You are starting over back as a freshman.”
Not one to knock you over with his size, Pinardo excelled mainly because of his tenacity and ability to play with a chip on his shoulder.
Shady Spring head football coach Vince Culicerto stated that Pinardo’s success was mainly due to his ability to play whistle to whistle.
“Bryson did not stop until the whistle blew. Sometimes when the play is on the other side of the field, players will let other guys get him. Some might take a play off here and there, especially those that play both ways,” Culicerto said. “He never would do that. He gave us every ounce of energy he had until the second whistle blew. He was always chasing the ball down. He stopped a lot of touchdowns actually that usually your safety does. He made some great plays for loss too.”
When asked what he needed to do to play at the next level, Pinardo stated immediately that he needed to get bigger.
“Being 180-185 pounds doesn’t cut it at that level. I have to get more muscular and a little quicker. College is much more fast-paced than high school,” Pinardo said.
Culicerto agreed that his standout player needed to get bigger in college. The veteran coach was not concerned about that fact because Pinardo possessed the inner drive that coaches are looking for in a football player.
“Bryson is undersized, but they can work on that and and get him stronger. He is just a young boy right now. He will start getting bigger,” Culicerto said. “You can’t coach heart and desire and he has that. The college coaches that I have talked to have said that they want somebody that will work hard and wants to play. It is a culture shock, but he will do just fine if he sticks with it.”
Battling through some injuries this year, there was a time when Pinardo was unsure if he would even get an offer to play college football.
“The injuries were big this year. I had a pretty bad ankle injury. Then when you talk about recruiting where the NCAA gave everyone that fifth year (of eligibility), that made recruiting hard. The scholarship that you were going to get, was maybe given back to that senior. That was a tough spot,” Pinardo said. “Many of times, especially at the beginning of the season I was wondering if I would get an offer. I was seeing people posting their recruiting offers, while I was sitting over here saying to myself, ‘I haven’t got that yet.’ Everything comes in time though.”
The original concerns were then replaced by which school should he choose.
“I had contact with Fairmont (State), West Liberty and Alderson-Broaddus. I had also talked to Glenville,” Pinardo said. “Academics is really big for me and Glenville had that small class size that I love. There were some other academic reasons that helped me fall in love with Glenville. Glenville just felt like home to me. It felt good to be there. The coaching staff is amazing. The players I talked to love it, so I am excited to see what the year has for me.”
Although he may be young, Pinardo understands the arena he is about to step into. He will also take that tenacity and, as it is known at Shady Spring, “chip mentality” along with him.
“The coaches told me that it really depends on what they have coming up as to where I will play. I will be able to play both sides if they need me to or if I want to. That is what I am excited about because I love both sides,” Pinardo said. “More than likely freshman get to play on their special teams. My goal for year one is to be on special teams and work my way up in the process. I don’t assume I will go up and start right away.”
