Chat with Mace has Harris ‘ready to rock’ with Roughriders in 2024

Trevor Harris may not have been completely healthy the first time he talked to Corey Mace, but the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ veteran quarterback was ready to run through a brick wall for his new head coach.

“The first time I talked to him, I was ready to rock as soon as he had talked to me,” Harris told reporters during a Zoom call Thursday.

“It was right around the time where my knee was starting to get better and I was just like, ‘I’ve really got to get this thing right. I want to get there and get the season rockin’.’ ”

Harris spent the off-season rehabbing a knee injury that prematurely ended his 2023 season. The Roughriders finished the season with a 6-12-0 record and missed the playoffs, an outcome that cost head coach Craig Dickenson his job.

On Dec. 1, Mace was introduced as Dickenson’s successor — Mace’s first head-coaching gig in the CFL — but that was after he had fired up his starting quarterback.

“He FaceTimed me pretty early in the process,” Harris said. “It was before his news conference and we chatted for a while. I remember hanging up the phone and I went and told my wife, ‘We got the right guy.’ I’m excited for this guy and for him to have the opportunity.”

Harris also is excited for the opportunity to get back on the field himself.

He played in just five games last season before suffering a tibial plateau fracture in his right knee in the fourth quarter of Saskatchewan’s 33-31 loss to the Calgary Stampeders on July 15.

After he had surgery, there were questions about his possible return to the lineup, but that didn’t come to fruition.

“I think I could have played in a game — probably maybe the West final — but I would have been about 70 per cent; I don’t know if I could have helped the team,” Harris said.

“But right around Christmastime, right around the five-month mark, I was comfortable playing a game and being able to do everything I needed to do movement-wise, strength-wise (and) quickness-wise, (and) being comfortable taking hits.

“I was really pleased with that because that gave me an entire off-season of being able to work on things I wanted to work on, strengthen my strengths and just hit an off-season full speed as opposed to thinking about the injury up until the eight-month mark, which is kind of the time frame they gave me.”

As the 37-year-old pivot was getting his body and mind right, he also was watching his team try to get itself turned around.

Roughriders general manager Jeremy O’Day had a fruitful free-agent period, signing the likes of running back A.J. Ouellette, offensive lineman Jermarcus Hardrick and a number of talented defensive players.

“(O’Day and his staff) have done a tremendous job,” Harris said. “I think they’ve stepped up and made a stance to say that, ‘We’re going all in this year. This is the year that we’re going to really do this thing.’

“We’ve hired Corey Mace. We brought in an excellent offensive co-ordinator (Marc Mueller) who has been wildly impressive to me in meetings. With Coach Mueller, he and I’ve worked pretty well together thus far and it’s been really fun getting to know him.”

And, Harris added, it’s been fun getting to know Mueller’s offence.

The former University of Regina Rams quarterback — and the grandson of Roughriders legend Ron Lancaster — was part of the Stamps’ coaching staff that helped Bo Levi Mitchell enjoy some stellar seasons in Calgary.

“I can see why they’ve had a lot of success,” Harris said. “This offence really is fun. It’s a fun one to execute and it makes a lot of sense.

“And it’s been a lot of fun to talk to Coach Mueller about the things that I’ve done well and that I’ve really enjoyed in the past, and he’s been wanting to implement those things.”

Harris is eager to put what happened last year in the past, and not just in terms of his own injury.

Pointing to what Saskatchewan fans have endured in recent seasons, he said he wants to give them a winning team — “I want them to wear Roughrider gear and be stinking proud of it no matter what province they’re in,” he said — while also helping his teammates succeed and getting his own career restarted.

Those are among his main motivators entering the 2024 season.

“I see the greatness in a lot of my teammates, with (receiver) Sam Emilus — who, as you guys saw last year, just took the first step in a Hall of Fame career — and (receiver) Shawn Bane Jr. wanting to come back and be a part of Saskatchewan and play with me again,” Harris said. “I want to make sure they have their best seasons and I want to see these guys lift a Grey Cup.

“To me, if you have a superficial motivation, it’s going to burn out pretty quickly. And so to me, the slow-burning candle to me is the love of my teammates, my faith and then the curiosity to see how high I can raise the ceiling with the talents and abilities that God’s given me.”