Veteran Roughriders quarterback Harris looking for first Grey Cup win as a starter

WINNIPEG — Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Trevor Harris was one of the top quarterbacks in the CFL this season — at the ripe old age of 39.

But the Waldo, Ohio, native is not talking about the possibility of this Sunday’s Grey Cup Game against the Montreal Alouettes being his last hurrah.

Instead, Harris relishes the idea of winning Lord Grey’s grail with his fifth CFL team, one that he has grown to love.

“Man, it sure would be awesome,” Harris said Tuesday. “It sure would be nice to accomplish this together and to be able to celebrate as a team and to celebrate as a group because I feel like it’s been quite a special group in terms of how close we are. That’s kind of what motivates all of us.

“I really feel like this group loves one another and hopefully, we can finish the job this Sunday.”

Harris has won two Grey Cups as a backup and lost the only one he started. Winning a championship on Sunday as a starter would cap off a brilliant career.

Harris was asked if he had ever wondered if he’d get back to the Cup as a starter.

“No, I don’t think I’ve ever gone to a game without thinking that we were going to win,” said Harris, who completed 26 of 38 passes for 305 yards and two touchdowns — including the game-winner in the waning seconds — of the Riders’ 24-21 victory over the B.C. Lions in the CFL West Final.

Harris also rushed three times for 15 yards.

The six-foot-three, 212-pound pivot completed 348 of 473 passes for 4,459 yards and 24 TDs in 17 games this season, with 11 interceptions and a CFL-leading 73.6 completion percentage.

“Trevor is super confident,” said Roughriders head coach Corey Mace. “I’ve got nothing but love for that guy. He’s an unbelievable competitor and a great human being.

“He’s done it for such a long time. He’s super efficient and he does it well. He can get you out of a jam because he’s looking to his fourth read. Some quarterbacks can’t stand back there and do that. And he can let it loose pretty quickly, to let the ball out fairly quickly. Then, if big chunk plays are need, he can obviously do that.”

Harris was one of the reasons why Mace chose to become Saskatchewan’s head coach.

“I just can’t say enough good things about Trevor, man,” Mace said. “It’s a big part of why coming to Saskatchewan was so intriguing, knowing that Trevor Harris was the quarterback. So, tons of respect years prior, going against him and so much more love now that I get to spend every day with the guy.”

Alouettes head coach Jason Maas acknowledged that shutting down Harris on Sunday will be a challenge.

“It’s difficult,” he said. “He’s seen it all. There’s not too many things that that man hasn’t seen. He’s super experienced and he does get rid of the ball and diagnose things rather quickly.

“It’s the same old thing when you talk about experienced quarterbacks — you’ve got to affect him some way, whether that’s pressure in the pocket or giving him different looks — just slowing him down a little bit. You don’t have to slow him down a ton, just enough where he hesitates slightly.”

Harris expects a tough battle Sunday.

“I feel like we’re looking at mirror images of ourselves in Montreal in terms of toughness, in terms of never-give-up, scrappy mentality, the way they’re built, the belief,” he said. “It’s just going to be a matter of who’s going to make the big play at the big moment.

“When that big moment happens, are we going to be able to respond to adversity better than they are? I think it’s going to be a knock-down, drag-out physical game and it’s going to be about hanging in there, regardless of what happens.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 11, 2025