![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Zach-Collaros-8-27226-Large-800x533.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWillie Jefferson was filled with an unbridled Christmas Eve-type excitement. Brady Oliveira kept gushing over and over and over again about the new additions made in free agency.<\/p>\n
And Tim White, well, he\u2019s still feeling energized about how good he feels in Winnipeg Blue Bombers colours months after signing his first deal with the club in late January.<\/p>\n
Now, while the names and faces vary, similar scenes no doubt unfolded across the Canadian Football League map with training camps opening.<\/p>\n
After all, this is the time of year when every team believes deep down in its collective soul it has the charges to be a November contender with dreams of championship parades dancing in their heads.<\/p>\n
That certainly was the case on Day 1 of Blue Bombers training camp where, despite the chilly temps, there was an upbeat buzz that backed up a busy offseason of change, both to the roster in free agency, but also with some tinkering to Mike O\u2019Shea\u2019s coaching staff.<\/p>\n
So, heck yeah, the good vibes were aplenty in Bomberland.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Zach Collaros on Day 1 of Blue Bombers training camp<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of excitement,\u201d said veteran defensive end Willie Jefferson. \u201cIn the team meeting (Saturday) Coach O\u2019Shea said this is one of the best offseasons from the front office in bringing in some great guys, some big-name guys that we think are going to help us get over that hump at the end of the season.\u00a0It\u2019s going to be fun<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels like the first day of school. I had so much anxiety last night after meetings in getting ready to come out here and run the 300s (fitness testing) \u2026 it\u2019s just fun to see all the new guys, all the old guys, to see Zach (Collaros) and the offence. To see Deatrick (Nichols) and the defence, Redha (Kramdi), all those guys making noise in the back end and putting it all together.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s still fine-tuning some things but it\u2019s the first day of camp, the first day of school for a lot of guys,\u201d he added. \u201cBack to the same school, the same teachers but we\u2019ve also some young guys, some freshmen, and we\u2019ve got a chance to mold them and show them what it\u2019s like to be here in Winnipeg and play at Princess Auto Stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just want to show them a good time and that\u2019s what I\u2019m here for.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Blue Bombers wrapped up rookie camp on Friday and then had the entire squad gather Saturday for meetings before taking to the field for the first time Sunday morning for main camp.<\/p>\n
The next three weeks include two preseason games \u2014 May 23rd in Saskatoon against the Saskatchewan Roughrider and May 29th at home versus the B.C. Lions \u2014 and still features two more cut down days, including Tuesday by 11:59 p.m. when all teams must reduce to 75 players (not including 2026 CFL Canadian Draft picks) before the final roster decisions are made after the second dress rehearsal.<\/p>\n
There are some openings on the Blue Bombers depth chart as main camp begins, but also very little mystery given all the veteran pieces that were added, including receivers like White and Tommy Nield, defensive lineman Jake Ceresna, offensive tackle Jarell Broxton, defensive backs Jonathan Moxey, Deandre Lamont and Alijah McGhee and linebacker Jovan Santos-Knox \u2014 although the latter did have to be helped off the field after a conditioning drill after suffering some sort of leg injury.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Brady-Oliveira-20-27250-Large-800x533.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Brady Oliveira<\/p>\n
\u201cJust being in the building, being in the meetings (Saturday) and seeing all the guys, it\u2019s really good,\u201d began running back Brady Oliveira. \u201cA lot of good energy and it\u2019s good being back out there with the guys and competing.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur energy is really good. You usually get that with Day 1 and now it\u2019s how can we improve tomorrow, come out here tomorrow and do more, give more and get one percent better.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good to be back. There was a lot of positivity. We made a pretty good splash in free agency which we haven\u2019t in previous years. Again, I trust in the organization knowing that they\u2019re doing everything in their power to make the best decisions for this team. They definitely made some waves this offseason. Those guys are going to come in and be a massive part to helping us getting over that hump.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast season we didn\u2019t live up to those expectations and meet those standards. The years before that we all know what happened in those Grey Cups. What\u2019s going to get us past that hump? The guys we brought in are going to be great additions and allow us to get to that next step.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Tim-White-12-27246-Large-800x533.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Tim White<\/p>\n
White, the former Hamilton Tiger-Cat receiver who has posted four straight 1,000-yard seasons, could be one of those \u2018great additions.\u2019<\/p>\n
He made a pitstop in Winnipeg in February after signing here with Sunday being his first day on the field with his new squad.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels great. The transition has been smooth and some of that comes from being in Hamilton and the operation there being similar,\u201d he said. \u201cBut there\u2019s definitely a lot of new faces for me. I\u2019m meeting a lot of new guys but also a bunch of guys I\u2019ve played with or against for a long time so there is some familiarity.<\/p>\n
\u201cComing out here on the first day, there\u2019s already a ton of energy. There\u2019s also an established leadership group here and that makes it easier to fit in. I feel like the coaches want some of my leadership, for me to speak up. There are a lot of young guys in the room that are looking for answers so I just try to help out when I can. These guys know they can talk to me and Nic (Demski) and Pokey (Wilson).<\/p>\n
\u201cComing here,\u201d he added, \u201chas really been a great thing. It\u2019s been amazing for me and my family, too. When we came up here we got them some jerseys and they\u2019re already wearing them to school.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m seeing all blue and that\u2019s definitely great for me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Willie Jefferson was filled with an unbridled Christmas Eve-type excitement. Brady Oliveira kept gushing over and over and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-660996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}