With a new era comes change and there has been an awful lot of that this off-season. And with change comes the need to adapt. 

Whether that is a new position or a new environment, it must be embraced.

For Toronto FC, who are primed for the start of the 2022 MLS regular season on Saturday with a visit to FC Dallas, two players who perhaps best exemplify that spirit are Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty and Lukas MacNaughton.

Though each has taken their own pathway to be in this position, both are eager to accept the challenge that lies ahead with the new year.

For Marshall-Rutty, a TFC Academy product entering his third season with the first team, it is a new position.

A natural winger, Marshall-Rutty has featured heavily in preseason as a right full-back, which has seen him patrolling new, but not entirely dissimilar areas of the pitch.

“To be honest, I feel like in modern day football the adjustment from winger to full-back isn’t that different,” said the 17-year-old on Tuesday. “The way we play, sometimes I find myself out wide like I would as a winger.”

“Maybe the biggest thing is just the defensive part. I enjoy running, so it wasn’t really a big change for me. It's also good to just add it to my game, make myself a better, versatile player,” he added. “Players like Alphonso Davies, Tajon Buchanan were wingers that turned into full-backs, so it's just good for me and good for my development.”

Playing under Bob Bradley, a coach who never stops looking to improve his players, has been “really good” for the teenager.

“He's always trying to give me advice,” said Marshall-Rutty. “He's coached in Europe, he's coached national teams, he’s coached other teams in America, so the advice he could give, I just try to take and learn.”

And within TFC, he has found a number of role models to help him embrace the challenge.

“Michael Bradley, Bob, even Richie [Laryea], Justin Morrow – players that played in that position have been helping me,” Marshall-Rutty highlighted. “Last year Richie always used to tell me he thinks I’d be a good full-back. He always gave me that advice and tried to always help me.”

Laryea, who made the move from Toronto to Nottingham Forest in January, was himself converted to full-back.

“To this day we still keep in touch, he’s in England at the moment, but he still reaches out to me, tries to give me confidence, tells me to keep pushing,” Marshall-Rutty continued. “He just wants the best for me.”

It was a very busy off-season for the young man, one that saw him sample the game in Europe with training stints at some massive clubs.

“I went to Belgium with Club Brugge and then I was in England with Arsenal and Liverpool,” Marshall-Rutty recounted. “The biggest thing for me was to see the young players around the world my age in and around the first team. Those are my dreams to play at the highest level, so to see where they're at and how far I need to get, their habits and try to implement them into my game.”

“And even more veteran players like the [Mohamed] Salahs and stuff, to see them, the way they train, was just amazing for me,” he added. “I'm going to try and take that, bring it into the season and fully focus for MLS 2022.”

A single 18-minute appearance in 2020 was a gateway to more playing time the following season. In 2021 Marshall-Rutty made 11 appearances, totaling 421 minutes. A wise man would bet on him eclipsing that total once more this time around.

He is ready.

“I've been working on my whole game, confidence wise, my body – as a young player, the pro game is a lot more physical,” Marshall-Rutty stressed. “A lot of different pieces, my passing, my weak foot. I'm always trying to get better.”

For MacNaughton, it is a new club at a higher level.

The 26-year-old defender spent the last three seasons with Pacific FC in the Canadian Premier League, leading them to a North Star Shield in 2021, dethroning two-time champions Forge FC.

MacNaughton knows it will be a step up, but one that he is ready to embrace.

“Undoubtedly a lot more quality in MLS, but from the Canadian Championship games, and from what I've seen and what I've experienced, it's comparable,” he outlined. “CPL teams are able to compete with MLS teams. You've seen what we did [against Vancouver last season], what Calgary [Cavalry FC] did in the first year against the Whitecaps.”

“It's a step up,” MacNaughton added. “But it's not like I'm stepping onto the moon right now.”

The TFC environment, the BMO training Ground, is not terra incognita for the defender – not that he isn’t accustomed to acclimating to new surroundings.

Born in New York, MacNaughton moved to Belgium when he was seven and then came to Canada, his father’s homeland, for university with no thoughts of a soccer career in mind. With the University of Toronto’s Varsity Blues, he played under current TFC Academy Director Anthony Capotosto and that led him to trial with TFC after his collegiate days.

“When I was back at the training ground, I was very comfortable,” said the defender. “I've been there so many times and I know almost everybody in the club, so even though it hasn't been my home, it does feel like home.”

Juggling work and football became difficult, so when the chance to commit fully came with the advent of the CPL, MacNaughton grasped it with both hands, packed his bags once more to move across the continent and over three seasons rose to become one of the best centre-backs in the league.

Adapting to those changing surroundings and mounting each challenge as they come has prepared him for this latest test.

“It's definitely a lot faster, a lot more physical, but I love to play physically, I love to be aggressive, so it's everything that I enjoy,” said MacNaughton. “It's been great. I've been lucky because it's a team with such a good culture and a good group of people, where you don't come in and feel uncomfortable or out of place.”

A fresh wind is stirring around Toronto FC as the season fast approaches.

Lorenzo Insigne will arrive in a couple of months, Carlos Salcedo is already making his presence felt both on and off the field, Jesús Jiménez scored his first goal for the club, and a raft of youngsters, including Marshall-Rutty, are in line for increased roles and responsibilities this year.

It is a new team for a new year under a new coach.

“The biggest change is just the atmosphere. The group feels a lot more connected,” explained Marshall-Rutty. “A big part of that is from Bob, he makes us feel like we all have a role to play, which is very important for young player like me, it gives me a lot of confidence.”

“We had a lot of changes, but our team is clicking together,” he added. “We should be good.”

The first match of the season is fast approaching.

“Any start of the season is exciting: that's what you live for, to play games and, especially, to win,” said MacNaughton. “We've had a bunch of exhibition games, but those are to get the team moving, to understand how everything's flowing, but when the games start mattering, that's when things start to get exciting.”

“We're excited,” he smiled. “We're almost impatient, to be honest.”