Don Landry | Argonauts.ca Insider
The way Trevor Harris sees it, there’s no time for kicking back and feeling good about the successes of his first half-season as a starting quarterback in the Canadian Football League. Nor does he see any real value in it anyway.
Harris has a big game to prepare for and he is all about the tunnel vision that keeps him zeroed in on the Labour Day Classic, in Hamilton, on Monday.
“We just want to focus on being consistent, dominant and clutch,” he says, his answers to my questions as disciplined and efficient as his play has been in 2015.
“You shouldn’t need a whole bunch of (extra) motivation going into a game like this,” Harris says, shrugging off the notion that the Argos-Ticats rivalry is plied with extra salt and pepper (some would say more like tabasco and cayenne) and that the extra seasoning plays a role. The game is the thing, he asserts, not the talk that surrounds it. “Especially playing such a quality opponent that has really been beating people down. It’s an exciting challenge for us to go out and just see where we stack up,” he says.
Thrust into the starter’s role, with incumbent Ricky Ray on the sidelines rehabbing a surgically repaired shoulder, Harris has performed well enough to have his name included in all-star and most outstanding player discussions in the East. This will be his first Classic as a starting quarterback. As he notes, his primary function in the past has been to trot out there to hold for field goal and convert attempts.
So, he’s not sure exactly what to expect on Monday, even though the two rivals had a pretty good dress rehearsal for this game back on August 3rd, with the Ticats taking a 34-18 decision in front of a sold out home crowd. It was pretty amped up, the way it usually is in Hamilton when Toronto comes calling. For the Argos, a team with plenty of first-year players in starters’ positions, that loss may have served as both a measuring stick and as a way to wade into Labour Day waters.
“It was good for our team to go out there and just see the environment at Tim Hortons Field and just kind of assess how that is and everything,” Harris explains. “In that regard it was good but, past that, we’re two different teams right now. We’re (even) a different team than we were four or five days ago when we played Edmonton.”
That’s the way it goes for Harris, who says he firmly believes that growth is a constant as long as you identify the opportunities as they are presented.
“Sometimes you gotta walk through,” he says after being presented with a door analogy. Then he takes it a little farther. “Sometimes you gotta jump through, sometimes you gotta jump over.”
“As long as you can embrace the struggle and keep pressing forward to be greater than what you are, then you’re gonna be just fine.”
The accolades began pouring in for the 29-year-old as soon as the season began. Leading the Argos to an opening day win over Edmonton, he seemed composed, calm and ready. That much was certain a week later when he drove the Argos the length of the field, with a minute to go in regulation time, firing a touchdown strike that would send the game into overtime. The visiting Argos then went on to an overtime win against Saskatchewan.
Among weekly starters, Harris leads the league with a quarterback efficiency rating of 112.7, just ahead of the man he’ll square off against on Monday, former teammate Zach Collaros. He’s thrown more touchdown passes (19) than any QB in the league, and fewer interceptions (6) than any of his contemporaries that have started nine games. People have noticed and they have raved.
If that is satisfying to Harris, he doesn’t show it, insisting that he is looking forward, not behind, as the second half of the campaign gets underway.
“I just try to focus on the team and making sure that I’m doing everything I can to be the best leader that I can,” he offers, matter-of-factly. “To really separate myself as a leader.”
“I just wanna focus on being the best version of myself that I can be for our team. Past that, I don’t really concern myself with too much because most times, you just view things from a surface level if you’re in the media or a spectator whereas people in the locker room really know what’s going on.”
As the conversation goes on, it strikes me that Trevor Harris is so business-like, I wonder where there might be room for the sport of football to be fun. Is it just a task? All work and no play? He sets me straight, the energy in his voice rising.
“Oh, shoot, prep is fun for me,” he says, with enthusiasm. “Practice is fun for me. Watching film is fun for me. It’s what I enjoy doing. A lot of times, in my free time, if I’m not watching film I’m thinking about watching film.”
What he is not doing, in his free time, is allowing for a well-fed sense of satisfaction to slow the progress he wants from himself and his team. The Argos had a few days off before Labour Day preparation began and Harris saw it as an opportunity to look for the next way to grow.
“It was kind of a nice thing for us to have a few days off and be able to assess where we’re at as a team and also kind of reflect on the things we need to improve, individually, to make the team even better,” he says, adding that he is excited about the potential that lies ahead in the final nine games of the regular season.
“Us being a young football team, you’re going to see us peak late in the season. Now that we have nine games under our belt, it’ll be fun to see where we grow.”
About those first nine games, Trevor. You must look back on them, even fleetingly, with the satisfaction of a job well done, right?
“Actually, no,” he answers. “Not really. Losing three games wasn’t the plan. Throwing six interceptions, turning the ball over a few times is not what I wanted. I expect greatness out of myself and that’s not gonna change.”
Sounds like somebody’s ready for Labour Day.