QB Trevor Harris ‘excited’ to be a Redblack
Former Argo Trevor Harris keen to work with league MVP Burris
Trevor Harris is an Ottawa Redblacks quarterback.
Not their No. 1 quarterback, at least not yet, but both Harris and Redblacks general manager Marcel Desjardins expect one of the biggest catches on the first day of Canadian Football League free agency to be the guy who takes over from Henry Burris in 2017.
“I’m just excited to be on a team that really believes in me and really looking forward to working with somebody like Henry, who I’ve heard nothing but tremendous things about as a human being,” Harris said in a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon, shortly after the Redblacks confirmed that he had been signed to a two-year contract. “He’s a tremendous guy to be around and to learn from, and I’m just looking forward to having him as a mentor this year to teach me more and more about the game.”
It should be noted at this point that Burris is not dead or hampered by any noticeable physical malady. He also received the CFL’s most outstanding player award a bit more than two months ago after setting a career best with 5,693 passing yards, and he led the second-year Redblacks to the Grey Cup game.
However, Burris will also turn 41 on June 4 and is entering the final season of a contract he signed with the Redblacks in 2014. Harris turns 30 on May 31, and his 2015 season with the Toronto Argonauts featured a league-leading total of 33 touchdown passes — he was also first in interceptions with 19 — and he ranked third behind Burris and the Calgary Stampeders’ Bo Levi Mitchell with 4,354 passing yards.
He threw for 945 yards and 10 touchdowns, with five interceptions, in three victories against the Redblacks.
However, veteran QB Ricky Ray, whose slow recovery from shoulder surgery opened the door for Harris, reclaimed the starting role late in the season, and the Argos re-signed him first.
“I feel as though I’m ready to be a starting quarterback but, at the same time, this situation felt like it really intrigued me,” Harris said, “and I was really excited about the opportunity to come to Ottawa.”
Various media reports said Harris’s deal was backloaded with a much higher 2017 salary of $400,000.
Desjardins said he had told Burris before Tuesday that making a pitch for Harris was in the team’s playbook for free agency.
“We wanted to make sure we secured (Harris’s) services for this year as a backup, as an insurance policy,” Desjardins said. “Henry is still our starter, but, more importantly or just as importantly, we wanted to secure a starting quarterback for 2017.”
Thomas DeMarco, the backup QB to Burris for most of the Redblacks’ first two seasons, was one of 11 members of the Grey Cup finalists who became free agents on Tuesday.
The only one to land elsewhere by late afternoon was defensive tackle Keith Shologan, who received a two-year deal as part of the wave of signings by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
The Redblacks also signed Ottawa native and former Ottawa Gee- Gee Brendan Gillanders, a teammate and occasional off-field training partner of Harris during his first two CFL seasons with the Argos. He’s expected to share duty at fullback and to make a contribution on special teams.
“He’s a quality football player who happens to be Canadian,” Desjardins said. “The fact he is from here is an added bonus.”
Desjardins said talks were continuing with various CFL player agents, including representatives of some of the Redblacks who became free agents at mid-day, so there might be more to come. “I’m not going to promise that or say there’s a good chance, but there is a chance.”
Harris is expected to make his first Ottawa appearances as a Redblack within a week or so.