Blue Bombers training camp begins with excitement

The first day of training camp can even riddle a franchise player with nerves.

“It’s all anxiety, I’m not gonna lie,” admitted receiver Nic Demski after Sunday’s opening session in a chat with the Free Press.

“But I mean, it’s funny because I was literally about to go to sleep last night and I looked at my (partner) and was like ‘I’m nervous as hell right now.’ She just looked at me and said ‘That’s how you know you still love it.’ And it’s true.”

“We are human after all, believe it or not.”

After running a few routes and catching some passes, that nervous energy quickly turns into excitement.

“This is my 11th training camp, and leading up to last night, I was cool as a cucumber and then all of a sudden it just hit me: I’m really about to play football tomorrow,” said Demski.

“But once you get out here and put the helmet on, it’s just like riding a bike, man. I’m still having fun with it.”

Considering all the moves that were made in the off-season, a lot of fun could be on the horizon for this crew.

“We are human after all, believe it or not.”

All their shiny new toys from free agency — tackle Jarell Broxton, defensive lineman Jake Ceresna, receivers Tim White and Tommy Nield, and defensive back Jonathan Moxey — were already showing a few glimpses on Sunday of how they can help this team.

Quarterback Zach Collaros seemed to have already found chemistry with White, connecting with the former Hamilton Tiger-Cat several times downfield. Then there was Broxton, who looked immovable when the O- and D-lines gathered for some one-on-one drills.

“There’s a lot of excitement. Just from the team meeting yesterday, coach O’Shea said this was one of the best off-seasons from the front office,” said defensive end Willie Jefferson.

“(They brought) in some great guys, some big name guys, some guys that we think are going to help us get over the hump at the end of the season.”

The Bombers knew maintaining the status quo wasn’t going to get them back to being contenders. After five consecutive Grey Cup appearances, they regressed in a major way last year — going 10-8 before losing the East Division semifinal to Montreal as the crossover team.

The Blue and Gold inked a handful of free agents ahead of the 2025 campaign, but none made a lasting impact.

“When you look back at the number of years, the organization has always done a pretty good job of keeping the main core together. The continuity has always been very, very good. And when you’re at the top of the CFL year after year, (teams) come in and poach and take some of your good guys,” said running back Brady Oliveira.

“So, when that happened the last number of years and guys start leaving, I felt like we were never adding. It was just like ‘Well, we have our guys.’ And absolutely, I’ll go with my guys any day of the week. But I felt like could there have been some pieces added here and there? I think absolutely. And I think that’s exactly what was done this off-season with the front office.

“They did one heck of a job.”

The CFL doesn’t hand out the Grey Cup in the off-season, though. The real work starts now.

“Now it’s our job to put it all together.”

“Now it’s our job to put it all together,” said head coach Mike O’Shea.

Down goes Santos-Knox

Less than 90 minutes into the opening day of training camp, linebacker Jovan Santos-Knox went down with an apparent right leg injury.

The 31-year-old, who broke into the CFL with Winnipeg in 2017 and is back with the team after splitting the last six seasons between Edmonton, Hamilton and Ottawa, crumpled to the turf during a running drill and was assisted to the locker room by two staff members. He did not return and O’Shea didn’t provide an update on the severity of the injury.

Santos-Knox played all 18 games for Ottawa last year and led the team with 80 defensive tackles.

Oliveira on new playoff format

Oliveira couldn’t help but smile when asked to comment about his viral tweet regarding the CFL’s new playoff format.

“I knew this was coming up,” he said.

The 2024 CFL Most Outstanding Player blasted the league on X last month for the 2027 change that will see eight out of nine teams qualify for the post-season.

“I think optically, when you just say in a sentence that eight of the nine teams are going to be in the playoffs, that was the only thing that was kind of a concern for me. I was like ‘You might as well put all nine teams in then,’ right? At the end of the day, we have to have belief and faith that the commissioner, the board of governors, they’re all making the best decision to grow this league,” said Oliveira.

“Let’s really hope they’re making the best decisions possible. Obviously, I love this league and want to continue to see it grow. I know the product is so amazing and we need to get more eyes on it. I get it from a business standpoint.

“But I’m really excited just for this upcoming season, though, and maybe we can kind of put that in the past because that’s not till next year.”

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