Chicago Bears: 3 things to know about new kicker Eddy Pineiro
By Ryan Heckman
Pineiro is a former soccer star
Growing up close to South Beach, Pineiro was born in Miami, Florida. He attended Miami Sunset high school, where he played soccer, a sport he played all throughout his childhood. As a high school soccer star, PIneiro was an All-Dade County selection four times.
Despite only playing soccer for most of his life, Pineiro ended up playing high school football over his senior year. The coaches decided to play PIneiro on kickoffs as well as extra points. While he could have chosen to pursue football after high school, Pineiro ended up going on to play soccer for ASA College, a small junior college in Florida.
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Fun fact, Pineiro chose to attend a tryout at Alabama, as a kicker, in the summer of 2015. There were several kickers at the open combine, and head coach Nick Saban brought his scholarship offers down to both Pineiro and one other kicker, Chris Salek.
While he did commit to Alabama, he ended up closer to home following a tryout with the Florida Gators — the rest is history. Pineiro gave up his soccer dreams to pursue football, and ended up going undrafted in 2018. Of course, he then signed with the Oakland Raiders last year.