After starting for the Balers in all three phases – offense, defense and special teams – during the 2011 football season, senior Ryan Di Salvo will battle for a starting position on next year’s San Jose State team, he confirmed Wednesday.
Once he enrolls, Di Salvo will be immediately placed on the team’s 105-man roster as a preferred walk-on, he said. As a freshman, he’ll compete for the starting long-snapping job.
If he starts, he’ll earn a 2013 scholarship.
Di Salvo also fielded an offer from the University of San Diego before agreeing to enroll at San Jose State last week.
“I just felt like San Jose State was the best fit for me,” he said. “I get to stay close to my family – which was important to me – and I get a chance to play.”
The team will also try out Di Salvo at defensive end and tight end, he said.
“They told me I would get a chance there,” he said. “They said I was a good enough athlete and they wanted to see what my best fit was.”
At the school, Di Salvo plans to study kinesiology – something San Diego doesn’t offer.
“That was a big part of my decision,” he said. “I want to go into sports medicine and San Diego didn’t have the classes.”
And the school gives Di Salvo a chance to fulfill a dream, he said.
“It’s always been my dream to play football for a Division I school,” he said. “It’s amazing that I’m finally getting a chance to realize that dream. It’s exciting.”
Di Salvo was selected to the first team All-Tri-County Athletic League after the end of the season. Di Salvo finished with 71 tackles and six sacks.
As a tight end, Di Salvo caught nine passes for 173 yards and two touchdowns.
The Balers finished the season with their first TCAL championship since 2005. The team’s season ended in the first round of Central Coast Section Open Division playoffs in November.
