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At the tender age of 21, Brady Oliveira is the youngest player in Winnipeg Blue Bombers training camp.

He’s a raw rookie, just drafted this year out of the University of North Dakota and he’s on the field with new coaches and new teammates from across North America and beyond.

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It could be an intimidating experience for a young man taking his first steps into professional football.

And yet, when Oliveira looks around at this training camp, he sees so many familiar faces, guys he grew up with, guys he trains with, guys who share the same hometown and similar backstories.

“Me coming in here as a rookie, I feel really comfortable and that has a lot to do with me being from Winnipeg and there being a lot of Winnipeg guys in this locker room,” Oliveira said Monday after the second day of Bombers training camp at IG Field.

“The guys that are from Winnipeg, we go way back. A lot of us have trained together over the years and we all know each other well.”