With Day 1 of the on-field portion of Ottawa REDBLACKS rookie camp freshly finished, offensive lineman Giordano Vaccaro walked up to the interview area, introducing himself to each media member, one by one.

“Hi, I’m Gio,” he said six or seven times as he made his way around the media circle, smiling and shaking hands. It was obviously a good first impression.

For the REDBLACKS, the 2026 CFL season will be about making a good and lasting impression. It’ll be about learning, evolving and producing more wins on the football field.

While the skies were grey, with clouds hovering above TD Place Wednesday, there’s a lot of optimism inside and outside the building.

It all starts this week – the rookie portion of training camp (which includes veteran quarterbacks) is a prelude to a full turnout Sunday, when several familiar faces, along with some significant off-season additions, join in. Then, it’s full steam ahead with a FanFest May 16, pre-season games May 22 in Montreal and the Alouettes here May 29 leading into the REDBLACKS’ regular-season opener June 6 at home against Edmonton.

It’s all going to happen with a motto of looking forward, not in the rear-view mirror. No need to dwell on the past.

“I’m excited, healthy and ready to roll,” said quarterback Dru Brown, who played in just 11 games a year ago, with injuries hampering his ability to be at his best. “You have hard years, it happens. The only issue is if you let it linger. You learn with what you did, what worked and what didn’t work. Everyone has those years. It’s over with.”

Many of the players on the field Wednesday were new REDBLACKS; they’re getting their first taste of the city, the team and the football schemes they’re expected to learn.

It’s up to new head coach/GM Ryan Dinwiddie, who the REDBLACKS hired last November, his coaching staff and the team’s football evaluators to get a good look at a lot of football players in a short period of time. It’s not an easy job.

“We have to evaluate, make some decisions. It’s tough,” said Dinwiddie. “We can’t (bring) all of them into the vet camp. You’re not going to be able to get enough looks for everybody.

“Sometimes you have to go back to the film study, and the reason they’re here. The receivers, the DBs, that’s a little bit easier. But with the O-line and D-line, we don’t get them in pads until the third day. We’re going to do 1-on-1s, stuff like that, to evaluate them. It wouldn’t be fair to those guys without that opportunity.”

Dinwiddie has been there, done that as a player and coach in the CFL. He knows the newbies and even some of the vets feel pressure; sometimes that affects their play.

“A lot of guys are uncertain about what the role is,” he said. “I say, ‘Just worry about the processes, worry about what you need to do. Don’t worry about where you are on our roster chart.’ I’m like, ‘Guys, this isn’t a depth chart, it’s a roster chart. Everybody’s going to start all over this board. Make sure that at the end of the camp, you’re at the top of the board.

“There’s just a lot of the unknown (in camp). Probably a lot of our rookies are feeling that way. In one of the PowerPoints, we talked about, ‘Just go out and be loose, be yourself, go out there and have fun and practise.’ If you start worrying about the pressure of making the football club, if you’re putting that in your own mind, you’re going to be tight and make mistakes. I want these guys to be themselves, compete and let it all play out.”

Vaccaro, selected first overall by Ottawa in last week’s CFL Draft, won’t have to fret about job security. He’ll have a roster spot and could, at some point this season, battle for a starting position. It’s a big deal for the 22-year-old Winnipeger to get the opportunity to play professional football. Following the 2024 U SPORTS season with the University of Manitoba Bisons, he transferred into the NCAA, joining the Purdue Boilermakers. Now, he’s a REDBLACK.

“It felt like an eternity (since football season ended last year),” said Vaccaro, who played on the TD Place field in the CFC (Canada Football Chat) Prospect Game while he was in Grade 11. “You take it one step at a time, it’s a huge process … from Pro Day to the CFL Combine interviews, then there’s the pre-draft talk …

“It’s been really surreal. Just getting here today and being able to practise with the team and be with the guys is really awesome. It was a quick turnaround (from the draft), I’m happy to be here. I’m trying to be a sponge and adjust to the speed.”

Over the next few weeks, the REDBLACKS will have plenty to do. Training camp can be mentally and physically draining, but, at the end of the day, it’s football. It’s a game they all know so well. And that’s what drives them.

“(Camp) is just a slotted period of time to improve your game, as you’re trying to do all year,” said Brown. “But it’s more tailored to us. During the year, there’s a lot of time spent on what we’re going to see, the personnel we’re dealing with (on that week’s opposing team) and how to defeat that.

“This is where you get to somewhat slow everything down and really hone in on things you A)  need to learn, or B) you need to get better at. I always enjoy this time of year. And, obviously, being around the guys all day is a lot of fun.”