The arrival of Gryphon training camp brought the rival of a new position for fifth-year veteran Rob Carnegie.
A running back his previous seasons with the Gryphs, Carnegie is lining up as a receiver for his final year of eligibility in a plan hatched by offensive coordinator Todd Galloway and his coaching staff partway last season.
“Our running backs have got to be some of the deepest in Canada,” Carnegie said. “Our running backs are phenomenal. I was just an all-around player and I wasn’t really going to be able to contribute in the backfield. Coach Galloway approached me basically midway through last season and said there was probably a better opportunity if I moved over to (receiver). I was glad to. Wherever I can get on the field and wherever I can contribute, I’m always glad to do that.”
With Johnny Augustine, Brandon Gordon and Daniel Palmer-Salmon back at running back and other youngsters stepping up, there wouldn’t be many carries available for Carnegie. Augustine, Gordon and Palmer-Salmon combined for 1,377 yards and 14 touchdowns on 233 carries during last year’s regular season. Carnegie had five carries for 19 yards to bring his Gryphon career total to 16 carries for 75 yards. He had two receptions out of the backfield in three years, one good for a two-yard touchdown against the Ottawa Gee-Gees in 2014.
“I think I took four snaps as receiver in high school kind of as a joke, but that was the most receiver I’d played,” Carnegie said after a short training camp session Saturday at Alumni Stadium. “It’s been a pretty big learning curve.”
Carnegie has received help at his new position from quarterback James Roberts and the coaches.
“There’s a lot of constructive things happening and I’ve been able to pick it up quickly,” he said. “They’ve kind of understood that I’ve got a pretty big learning curve, but they’ve got me up their pretty fast. They’ve done a great job helping me through that.”
The play book has been the biggest thing for Carnegie to learn.
“I’ve never had to learn route concepts,” he said. "I’ve known coverages, but I’ve never had to intermittently figure them out and how that kind of alters what I do on the football field. Just putting that all together was probably the biggest part I had to learn.
“At running back, they just kind of tell you to go left or right and just get out there as fast as you can. But (at receiver) you have to diagnose it and make different reads with James and make sure you’re on the same page. You want to make sure you’re where he expects you to be so that kind of changes what you’re doing.”
The Gryphs have had quite a few changes at receiver. Gone are James Ingram, Dylan Husty and Lucas Spagnuolo. They accounted for 32 catches and 451 yards in the regular season last year. Jacob Scarfone had a breakout season, leading the Gryphons with 57 receptions, 940 yards and 10 touchdowns during the regular season last year. He’s back, but he’s sidelined with an ACL injury. That leaves fifth-year players A’Dre Fraser (33 catches, 520 yards and five touchdowns), Ryan Nieuwesteeg (10 catches, 168 yards, 1 touchdown) and Colin Booth (6 catches, 104 yards, 1 touchdown) as the top returning receivers.
“We’ve got some first-years that are really picking it up in a big way,” Carnegie said. “I just know that I’m out there to do my job. I don’t expect myself to be the guy to make flashy plays. If they lean on me in big situations, of course I’m going to expect myself to pull through, but we’ve got all these amazing athletes all over the field and I know we can fill that void easily.”
Carnegie has found the set up of this year’s training camp, which effectively ends with Sunday’s controlled scrimmage against McMaster, to his liking.
“It’s gone really well,” he said. “The way it’s all structured this year kind of keeps you fresh through it, too. Being able to have that day off (Wednesday) in the middle was really actually huge. I know a lot of the older guys were really starting to get banged up and then you have that one day to recover and you can come out flying.”
That day off the field also allowed for plenty of time to study the play book.
“With that day off in the middle, you can really rest your body and really dial it in mentally,” Carnegie said. “Being able to come back strong the last three days was really good.”
The team’s motto this season is Team First and that’s been evident throughout training camp.
“There’s so much more emphasis on that,” Carnegie said. “In all our meetings, guys are always sitting in mentor/mentee pairs. They’re always sitting together. If there are any gaps in the meetings, they’re going through the play book together, going through little issues they might have on the field and really helping coach each other. It’s pretty interesting to see that. They’ll be competing for the same spot, but all around they both get better and they’re making sure that the team is succeeding.”
The players are also itching for the chance to hit an opponent, something they’ll get with Sunday’s scrimmage. They won’t keep score, but there’ll be opportunities for players to seize new roles with the team. The scrimmage is to start at 1 p.m.
“I know everybody out here is really excited to get it fully going,” Carnegie said. “There’s just always that little extra edge coming out when you see a different jersey across from you, especially when you’re on your own field. I’m really excited to get out there and hit somebody else.”
The Gryphons are to open their regular season at home Aug. 28 against the Toronto Varsity Blues. Game time at Alumni Stadium is 1 p.m.

Written by Rob Massey