{"id":35413,"date":"2026-05-07T08:54:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T08:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/35413\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T08:54:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T08:54:00","slug":"first-day-of-rookie-camp-brings-renewed-optimism-for-redblacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/35413\/","title":{"rendered":"First day of rookie camp brings renewed optimism for REDBLACKS"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cHi, I\u2019m Gio,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

For the REDBLACKS, the 2026 CFL season will be about making a good and lasting impression. It\u2019ll be about learning, evolving and producing more wins on the football field.<\/p>\n

While the skies were grey, with clouds hovering above TD Place Wednesday, there\u2019s a lot of optimism inside and outside the building.<\/p>\n

It all starts this week \u2013 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\u2019s 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\u2019 regular-season opener June 6 at home against Edmonton.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all going to happen with a motto of looking forward, not in the rear-view mirror. No need to dwell on the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited, healthy and ready to roll,\u201d said quarterback Dru Brown, who played in just 11 games a year ago, with injuries hampering his ability to be at his best. \u201cYou 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\u2019t work. Everyone has those years. It\u2019s over with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of the players on the field Wednesday were new REDBLACKS; they\u2019re getting their first taste of the city, the team and the football schemes they\u2019re expected to learn.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s up to new head coach\/GM Ryan Dinwiddie, who the REDBLACKS hired last November, his coaching staff and the team\u2019s football evaluators to get a good look at a lot of football players in a short period of time. It\u2019s not an easy job.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to evaluate, make some decisions. It\u2019s tough,\u201d said Dinwiddie. \u201cWe can\u2019t (bring) all of them into the vet camp. You\u2019re not going to be able to get enough looks for everybody.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you have to go back to the film study, and the reason they\u2019re here. The receivers, the DBs, that\u2019s a little bit easier. But with the O-line and D-line, we don\u2019t get them in pads until the third day. We\u2019re going to do 1-on-1s, stuff like that, to evaluate them. It wouldn\u2019t be fair to those guys without that opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of guys are uncertain about what the role is,\u201d he said. \u201cI say, \u2018Just worry about the processes, worry about what you need to do. Don\u2019t worry about where you are on our roster chart.\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018Guys, this isn\u2019t a depth chart, it\u2019s a roster chart. Everybody\u2019s going to start all over this board. Make sure that at the end of the camp, you\u2019re at the top of the board.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s 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, \u2018Just go out and be loose, be yourself, go out there and have fun and practise.\u2019 If you start worrying about the pressure of making the football club, if you\u2019re putting that in your own mind, you\u2019re going to be tight and make mistakes. I want these guys to be themselves, compete and let it all play out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Vaccaro, selected first overall by Ottawa in last week\u2019s CFL Draft, won\u2019t have to fret about job security. He\u2019ll have a roster spot and could, at some point this season, battle for a starting position. It\u2019s 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\u2019s a REDBLACK.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt like an eternity (since football season ended last year),\u201d said Vaccaro, who played on the TD Place field in the CFC (Canada Football Chat) Prospect Game while he was in Grade 11. \u201cYou take it one step at a time, it\u2019s a huge process \u2026 from Pro Day to the CFL Combine interviews, then there\u2019s the pre-draft talk \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s 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\u2019m happy to be here. I\u2019m trying to be a sponge and adjust to the speed.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s football. It\u2019s a game they all know so well. And that\u2019s what drives them.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Camp) is just a slotted period of time to improve your game, as you\u2019re trying to do all year,\u201d said Brown. \u201cBut it\u2019s more tailored to us. During the year, there\u2019s a lot of time spent on what we\u2019re going to see, the personnel we\u2019re dealing with (on that week\u2019s opposing team) and how to defeat that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is where you get to somewhat slow everything down and really hone in on things you A) \u00a0need 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With Day 1 of the on-field portion of Ottawa REDBLACKS rookie camp freshly finished, offensive lineman Giordano Vaccaro…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[61],"class_list":{"0":"post-35413","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ottawa","8":"tag-ottawa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}