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It’s hard to get off to a great start when the trainers won’t even let you step into the blocks.

But it was for his own good, and the good of the Edmonton Eskimos, that receiver Brandon Zylstra didn’t get the full “ready, set, go” until the second week of training camp.

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“I’m so happy to be out here again,” the 24-year-old receiver said after his first full day of camp Monday. “It was nice to get in front of a live defence again. It was something I was looking forward to. I haven’t done it for seven months now. That’s what I was looking forward to most.”

Zylstra wanted to be in there for Day 1, but he strained his groin prior to training camp and the Eskimos medical staff wasn’t about to take any chances. Better he he sit out now than be bothered by it for weeks to come.

“It was just a little tweak in my off-season training, nothing major at all,” he said. “We were just kind of taking precautions.”

The Eskimos already know what the six-foot-three, 220-pound import receiver can do from his sparkling debut last year, so Zylstra was never in any danger of falling out of the picture during his rehab stint. Still, it’s never easy starting camp on the trainers table.