REILLY OUT, HARRIS IN
Eskimos turn losses into wins, Jones says
Just how does newly signed Edmonton Eskimos quarterback Trevor Harris possibly expect to come in and replace the player who led the CFL in passing for three years running?
The short answer is, he doesn’t. And for as much as the former Ottawa Redblacks quarterback is aware comparisons to former face of the franchise Mike Reilly will be made throughout the 2019 season, if not beyond, Harris is not nearly as interested in trying to stack up against someone else as he is in fitting in with this new-look Eskimos offence.
“It’s not something that worries me or strikes me the wrong way or that I get nervous about,” said Harris. “I wouldn’t go into a situation where I didn’t feel I could raise the bar and help a team win ball games.”
Harris might even feel right at home having already followed in the footsteps of a former Eskimos star quarterback.
He arrived in the CFL with the Toronto Argonauts the same season Ricky Ray was traded there from Edmonton, with the torch being passed in a 2015 season when Harris played 17 games.
“Playing in front of Ricky and fending him off for almost a full season, until then, I kind of had to struggle in Toronto,” said Harris, who came up against another future Hall of Famer in Henry Burris in Ottawa the following year. “And then, obviously, going back and forth and playing the better part of the games in 2016 and then having Hank win the Grey Cup before being the guy moving forward there.
“So it’s not really new hat to me to be replacing a guy of their calibre. It’s the only thing I know, actually. So it would be kind of a normal scenario for me, I guess.”
This time, the guy he’s replacing is already gone, and Harris will be handed the keys to a high-octane Eskimos offence historically known for putting up big passing yards.
“You can think back maybe a year, max, that Edmonton hasn’t had elite-level quarterback play, with Ricky being there for so long, and Jason Maas and then, obviously, the one year without,” Harris said of a 2012 season that ended in a loss to Ray’s Argos in the crossover playoff game. “And they’ve had Mike for the last six years, so Edmonton’s been spoiled with quarterback play and I’m just hoping to come in there and continue the tradition and do what I can do to help raise the bar in this organization.
“But it’s going to be done just one day at a time and I’m just thankful to be one cog in the engine and obviously have a great team and supporting case around me, and I’m just going to do all that I can to love my teammates and lead and get them to believe in what we all need to believe in and pull the rope in the same direction and I think the results follow from there.”
The six-foot-three, 212-pound Edinboro University product was one of four quarterbacks to surpass the 5,000-yard mark in passing last season, while leading the league with 431 completions, a completion percentage of 70.1 and an interception percentage of just 1.8, all of which contributed to a CFL-best pass-efficiency rating of 99.6.
Harris is joined in Edmonton by former Redblacks receiver Greg Ellingson.
“I always talk to Trevor, so we’ve been in touch all off-season kind of seeing what’s going on with each other, making sure we were keeping each other in the loop especially knowing that we were becoming free agents,” Ellingson said. “We’ve had a good bond together.”
Harris as been through free agency once before, signing with Ottawa in 2016.
“I’m just very thankful to be a part of Edmonton and I’m just glad that this spot was available because I think it’s a good fit for both sides.
“I’m very excited to be a part of the City of Champions.”