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The Saskatchewan Roughriders have brought home the Grey Cup for the fifth time in its history. Most Valuable Player of the 112th the Grey Cup, quarterback Trevor Harris, and running back AJ Ouellette joined Jamie and Locker on The Green Zone to talk about their experiences.
Listen to the full interview here, or read the full transcript below:
The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
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The Green Zone: Are you driving back to Ohio together?
Harris: Yeah, you know, I feel like it’s one of those things where we got to keep a reputation now. I feel if we go across the country, I gotta be like ‘hey, AJ, unfortunately, I’m driving to wherever tomorrow. You got to come with me.’ It’s become a thing.
GZ: How important was your trip to Saskatchewan together two years ago to set a vibe for what has now built into a Grey Cup championship?
Ouellette: I don’t know that that set the tone for anything. Before that we knew who each other were. I’m not gonna grab a stranger and say ‘hey, man, let’s drive 23 and a half hours together.’ We had a very long, detailed conversation the first time we spoke.
We’re wired the exact same — we just kind of go about the game a little bit differently. I’m much more physical than him. We’re both grinders. We both love ball, and outside of that, not really good at anything else. So it was a great trip just getting to know each other more on the personal level.
GZ: Who (in the press) had the most creative question about your plans for next year?
Harris: It’s really been a topic of conversation quite a bit this year, I think because of my age. People just kept asking. Am I supposed to feel old? Am I supposed to feel brittle? Or is am I supposed to feel like deteriorating some way? I just haven’t felt that.
It was more or less like I’m going to take a moment to kind of think about it every off season, and I still feel the exact same way.
GZ: What was it like to finish the job on Sunday?
Ouellete: I can’t even say what that moment meant. I just found the closest person to me to give him a kiss, and then I promised Andrew (Harris, running backs coach) I’d give him a kiss so I had to go find him. Then I’m trying to find everyone else to hug. Seeing everyone else celebrate … was my favourite part of the day.
GZ: Your celebration was a bit different, Trevor, down on one knee. What was going through your head?
Harris: I took a few steps onto the field, and I was like ‘OK, act like you’ve been there before.’ I was overcome by emotion, and that’s what you saw.
The night before the game I was sitting in my room reflecting and I found myself crying over the gratitude for what this group has meant to me — the friendships, the bonds that this team has created, how grateful I am to play for Mark Mueller, for coach (Corey) Mace, for the Green and White.
I took a 20-minute walk, and put on some gospel music, and sobbed out of gratitude. It wasn’t out of sadness.
I was just so thankful to be able to play in this moment, because as Americans, you grow up dreaming of the Super Bowl but I’ve been up here for 14 years, so that’s shifted. I want to win Grey Cups. That’s what I want to do.
Saskatchewan Roughriders AJ Ouellette (second from L) and QB Trevor Harris (right) met with Jamie (left) and Locker on Nov. 20. (Nicole Garn/980 CJME)
GZ: This team is really authentic. Was that passed down from the coach, or was that something you guys all brought to the table individually?
Ouellette: Everybody’s their own person, right? And coach wants you to do that — that’s when you’re going to be at your best, when you’re comfortable, when you feel like yourself.
If you’re trying to change and be someone you’re not, you’re always going to be constantly thinking about what you should be saying, what you shouldn’t be saying, how you should be playing, and all that.
He (mace) wants guys to play a certain way, so he gets the type of people who don’t have to pretend to be anything that they’re not. Coach got the guys he wants, and he tells us act the way we do.
GZ: Why do people gravitate to and be inspired by Corey Mace?
Harris: Whatever it is, he’s got it. I saw it in Toronto. The way that he could get a room to just focus in and just follow his lead, his ability to say the right thing at the right moment, and his ability to control emotions, no matter what the circumstances are, how good or how bad it is.
Ouellette: It’s authenticity. Did you see him after the game dancing? What head coach acts like that? Yeah, none. But he does, because it’s who he is, and people love him for that. People will go the extra mile and do whatever they can for him because of that. And he loves the players.
GZ: We did take some questions from listeners. This one’s for you, AJ. Tyrone from Saskatoon asks ‘how much do you think we could raise here from Riders Nation if you gave up your hair for the 50/50’?
Ouellette: Record breaking, I would say. That might have to be a thing towards the end of the career.
GZ: Which Rider would get your kids into the most trouble if you had to leave the kids with somebody on the team?
Ouellette: They love (Kian) Schaeffer Baker. My middle child asks, ‘Dad, can we have Schaeffer Baker come spend the night?’ I say he lives in Canada, buddy.
GZ: AJ, what was it like to lay in the middle of the field with Logan Ferling after the game?
Ouellette: It was Logan’s idea. I broke away from the mosh pit of the celebration in the locker room and he looked at me and goes, ‘you wanna go on the field?’ The stands were empty, it was just a surreal moment. We laid down on the confetti and said, ‘man, in 20 years, this is probably the first thing that we’re going to think of when we think of the Grey Cup’ Then we sat there for 10 minutes talking about anything except football. It was just life with brothers. I’m never going to forget those that conversation with with Logan.
GZ: Do you have to take a break when you’re when you’re not playing? How do you relax in the off season?
Ouellette: I’m lucky enough to have a sports performance gym that I own back home, so my relaxing is yelling at kids to lift more weight, sprint faster and be a champion in their sport. I do miss getting up and hitting someone. I know it was hard for me to celebrate immediately after the game, and the next day Andrew asks ‘why do you look angry?’ I’m still thinking of three plays — some run plays I felt like I could have been in there a little bit better in the game — and then I think there’s another game next week.
GZ: Trevor, did you watch the game?
Harris: AJ made me watch the game today. There was three plays that I wish I would have done differently, but Montreal did a great job defensively. They had a tremendous plan. They mixed up their coverages and rolled their rotations. By a few drives in, we’d figured it out in terms of what we were trying to do and how we could kind of combat it. There were still three plays that you want back.
GZ: Saskatchewan wants you both back. Can you promise them that?
Harris: I can’t yet. I wish I could call the shots. I do not.
GZ: How bad do you want two straight?
Harris: That’s what I want. You ask what do we do to unwind? I don’t. I’ve never been wired that way. I’ve already started off-season workouts.
You start how do you do it again but it’s so far away, there’s lot of work to do. At the same time, there’s a lot of opportunity in the off-season to find the gaps in your game and try and get yourself a little bit more youthful.
I’d like to be able to come back next year and be able to run a little bit better and push the ball down the field a little bit better.
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