There’s no pressure on Gabe Ferraro at the Gryphon training camp.
Back for his third season with the Gryphons, he’s the only punter/kicker specialist at the camp that opened Sunday at Alumni Stadium.
“The challenge is the rest of the competition in the league, the rest of the OUA, the rest of the CIS and just myself getting better from last year,” he said as he walked off the field.
Ferraro was second-team all-Canadian and first-team OUA all-star as a place kicker last season, his first as the top guy for the Gryphs as he took over from his brother Daniel Ferraro who was sidelined by a knee injury the year after he set an OUA record with 26 field goals, the most in a single season.
“It was good, but you can always get better,” Gabe said of his 2015 season. “In my mind, I didn’t punt well and I missed three field goals. I can always get better and that’s all I worked on this summer, just getting better.”
He hit on 15 of 18 field-goal attempts and made all 40 of his converts. Punting, Ferraro had an average of 33.8 yards per punt on the 62 he took during the regular season including a longest punt of 48 yards. He had 17 land inside the opponents’ 20-yard line, but had one blocked. Those numbers meant that punting was an area of concentration during his off-season work.
“This summer I actually stayed in Guelph so I had a lot more access to the field, to working out and to working a lot harder,” he said. “It was a lot better this summer and hopefully it’s going to show on the field.”
Another focus of his off-season work was to bulk up a little.
“There was a lot of working out,” he said. “I tried to put on size and I tried to put on weight. I just got stronger and I just got better at everything I was doing.”
Ferraro weighed in at 185 pounds entering camp, an increase of 10 pounds over last year.
“I feel a lot stronger and faster.”
Ferraro was expecting competition at camp as the Gryphons had recruited Owen Charnock out of the Niagara area, but he decided to pass on football. That hasn’t changed Ferraro’s approach to training camp.
“I know I have to prove myself again,” he said. “Some people might think last year was a fluke year, so I’ve got to prove myself and just get better.”
Like all the other players fighting for a spot on the team, Ferraro knows that training camp is used to get every aspect of the game in tip-top shape.
“Training camp is just getting used to the team, getting used to the live reps, getting used to kicking with pads on again, getting used to kicking with your helmet on again,” he said. "It’s just getting ready for the season, that’s all it is.
“We still have a game at the end of this week and a game in two weeks, so it’s just getting ready, getting used to getting a snap, getting live reps. That’s all it is. It’s the same stuff I’ve been doing all summer. I’ve just got to stay calm, do what I know how to do and don’t let the nerves get to me.”
The Gryphs have a controlled scrimmage again the McMaster Marauders Sunday at 1 p.m. at Alumni Stadium and they’re to open their 2016 season at home Aug. 28 against the Toronto Varsity Blues.
Ferraro will be hoping that game is the start of another strong season.
“I don’t what to put numbers on it,” he said. "I do set goals, but I don’t want to put numbers on it. I don’t want to jinx anything. I just take it one kick at a time.
“Just be your best. For field goals, just go 1-for-1.”

Written by Rob Massey