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Ryan Dinwiddie knew who he was taking with the first overall pick in the CFL draft Tuesday night well before commissioner Stuart Johnston announced that the Ottawa Redblacks were “on the clock.”
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The team’s new GM and head coach has liked Giordano Vaccaro for some time.
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“I just thought he was the best offensive lineman on the board,” Dinwiddie said of the 6-foot-3, 315-pound Winnipeg native. “Vaccaro is a hell of a player. He’s physical, he finishes … we’re trying to change our identity on offence, and we felt like he was that guy that would make us a better, but also more physical and also more accountable in our meeting rooms.”
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Vaccaro spent three seasons as a left tackle and guard at the University of Manitoba before spending last season in the NCAA with the Purdue Boilermakers. He suited up for 12 games with Purdue and played 30 snaps in a game against the eventual U.S. college champion Indiana Hoosiers.
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With the Redblacks, he will come to camp as a guard.
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“We envision he could play some centre too (but) we’ll get him comfortable at guard so he doesn’t have to make all the line calls, all that stuff right away,” said Dinwiddie. “He’ll be a centre-guard for us. Very happy about his upside.”
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Interviewed on TSN at a draft party in his hometown, Vaccaro said it was “super surreal” to hear his name called first and that the hearing from Ottawa was “probably the best phone call of my life.”
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He said the Redblacks will be getting a “humble guy who comes ready to work … a mauler who will come to play from Day 1.”
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The Redblacks made a trade at the start of the second round, sending the 10th selection to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in exchange for the 13th pick and a second-round choice in 2027.
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With the 13th pick, Ottawa took fullback Emeric Boutin from Laval.
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