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May 3, 2017

Harris takes the reins and couldn’t be any happier

By: Chris Hofley

It may only have been Mini-Camp, but the fire in the eyes of Trevor Harris was in mid-season form as the Ottawa REDBLACKS wrapped their first stint on the TD Place field last weekend.

Perhaps for Harris more than any of his teammates, the upcoming season is a polar opposite of the way the 2016 campaign began. For one thing, the former Toronto Argonauts quarterback is no longer the new guy on campus. For another, the REDBLACKS are now his team, if you believe that a sports franchise can “belong” to any one player.

But the way a hockey goalie or the team’s star forward is the focal point, good or bad, of the organization, it’s tough to argue against Harris becoming the undisputed face of the franchise.

And through five practices over five days, it was quickly clear that is just fine with the 30-year-old Ohio native. Spend enough time watching #7 in action and you would be hard-pressed to argue that Harris is anything but ready for the challenge ahead…And, for a team coming off its first Grey Cup championship and set to host the 2017 edition, that’s no small feat.

Heck, he’s even excited about the various stage of the pre-season, much of which many players would tell you they’d gladly skip to get going on the regular season.

“There’s work that comes before the success, I love the process of training camp and the grind of that. You’re learning, you’re fixing things you struggle with.”

Trevor Harris

MiniCamp1-7

Harris is quick to point out he’s not the now-retired and legendary Henry Burris and won’t pretend to be. But Harris also spent a season working with Smilin’ Hank and it’s clear that plenty of that rubbed off. It becomes clearer when you watch Harris take time with every fan who came out to watch Mini-Camp and wanted a picture or an autograph.

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It all adds up to one thing: life is good for Trevor Harris and that is very good news for RNation. Could it be, perhaps, the birth of his first child, son Trenton James, during the off-season?

Ask him about becoming a father and he lights up, offering some version of it, “it’s amazing” or “it’s just the best thing ever.”

That’s how he feels about his other job, out on the field, too.

“You get out here and you feel so good, you’re playing football for a living in this great city, with this great organization,” he said.

Between having a baby, taking over the reigns as undisputed starting quarterback and coming off a championship in his first year with the REDBLACKS, really, what’s not to be excited about?

Trevor Harris has said he wants to be the guy in Ottawa. Now he is. And that should be plenty to get RNation frothing at the mouth with the 2017 CFL season right around the corner.