#48 Yannick Carter, LB – June 12

When I got here, the first thing I wanted to do was just get acclimated with some of the guys. I got here three or four days before camp but every hour I had was spent here in the facilities getting to know people because there’s a bunch of new faces and you want to put a name to a face.

I haven’t really gotten a chance to explore the city. The little bit of traveling I have done through the city has been confusing with all the one-way streets and I have to get used to that and my GPS has been working overtime.

Right now I have Na’Shan Goddard and Rod Davis as my roommates and Na’Shan is probably the biggest comedian I ever met in my entire life and in my seven years in the CFL. When he’s done playing football and retired, he needs to become a stand-up comedian because he’s absolutely hilarious.

Training camp has been going well. It’s a little different this year with the new rules that have been put in place by the CFLPA. It’s a little lighter on the legs. What I think it has done is given us an opportunity to be a little bit more mentally focused on what we have to do assignment-wise because you’re not as tired so you can actually sit there and focus. Because when you get tired, the first thing that goes is your mental frame of mind, so I think that’s been very vital to us moving forward.

Overall, training camp has what I expected. Being seven years in the league, it’s kind of all the same across the board in terms of schedules and two-a-days and what days you’re wearing shoulder pads and stuff like that. It’s been a lot better than what I expected in terms of the player standpoint. The guys in the locker room are a lot of fun to be around. It’s a good group of guys. I didn’t know many of them coming in here, so I had expectations that weren’t really high. But once I met everyone, it’s been a pleasant experience so far.

How do I feel about this being the last day of two-a-days? Relieved! The last day of two-a-days is something you look forward to as soon as camp starts because you know your legs are going to be tired and sore. But most importantly, it shows that there’s a close time frame to when you play that first pre-season game and that just leads into the season and that’s what you’re really here to accomplish.

My whole standpoint this year was to reestablish myself as a special-teams force within the league. Knowing that we have the last two-a-days and the pre-season game coming up, I just know I’m that much closer to accomplishing my goal or at least putting forth the foot to help me accomplish that goal. The past two seasons have been rough with the knee injury and complications that went down with Hamilton, so I’m looking forward to moving forward and get into this pre-season game.