Trevor Harris might be biding his time, but he is certainly not wasting it.

The 30-year-old Ottawa REDBLACKS quarterback is prepping for the 104th Grey Cup presented by Shaw in the only fashion he’s accustomed to.

“I’ve learned to treat every week the same regardless of situation,” Harris says as the excited din of the Ottawa media breakfast swirls around him at a downtown Toronto hotel. “If I’m called upon, I feel very confident I’ll go in and do well.”

Harris will serve as understudy to Ottawa starter Henry Burris on Sunday, barring some unforeseen bit of misdirection from Ottawa head coach Rick Campbell. If anything of that nature is afoot, you’d never know from Harris’ demeanor. Then again, you never would. If Harris is known for many things, one of them is absolutely his poker face.

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If Burris struggles, if he is injured or even if Ottawa head coach Rick Campbell just decides to change things up at some point, Harris will be pressed into action. He’ll be ready. He always is.

Had things turned out a little differently, it would be Harris who’d be starting for the REDBLACKS and not Burris. While his rise to starter in the absence of an injured Burris was relatively short-lived, earlier this season, Harris says he can live with it because he knew going in that the 2016 season was going to be marked by the Ottawa REDBLACKS being Henry’s team.

“I wasn’t supposed to play this year, really,” he says. “This is Hank’s deal and I’m supposed to be here just in case something were to happen and that’s exactly where it is at the end of the year. We’re competing for a championship just like we were hoping for and I’m here and available, ready to go if something were to happen to him. Ready to help us win a Grey Cup if something were to happen.”

Indeed, the well-publicized plan for the Ottawa quarterbacking situation in 2016 was to have the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player in 2015 – Burris – as the starter. Harris’ time would come and it is widely expected that his time will be 2017, regardless of how things play out this Sunday.

It looked like the plan was going to be accelerated when Burris was injured during the first game of the season and Harris jumped in, leading the REDBLACKS to a frenetic 45-37 overtime win in Edmonton.

Harris went 17-for-19 in that game for 292 yards and three touchdowns and continued a torrid pace until he was injured, himself, during a Week 5 game in Saskatchewan.

Returning from injury in Week 10, Harris was back at the controls and it appeared as though he’d taken the starter’s job right away. He threw for 485 yards against BC in a Week 15 game (a loss, nonetheless) and when he struggled a week later in a loss to Saskatchewan, Burris was given the reins once again.

That demotion must have stung. Even Burris was on record as saying he thought Harris deserved a chance to work out of his slump, rather than be relegated.

“It was difficult,” Harris says. “You wanna be out there all the time. So that was very difficult for me. Anytime you get yanked off of the field, you’ve gotta just swallow your pride. And understand that you play for the Ottawa REDBLACKS and not for Trevor Harris.”

While he stands aside, prepping as usual just in case he is called upon, Harris continues to grow his football knowledge, gulping as much information as he can as he gleans valuable tidbits from a second future hall-of-famer in Burris. He’s adding all that knowledge to the stuff he’s previously crammed in to his brain while a member of the Toronto Argonauts from 2012 to 2015.

“I’ve been able to learn a lot from looking into Hank’s perspective,” Harris says, pointing out that there are big differences between his current mentor and his previous, the decorated Ricky Ray.

“Hank and I process the game very differently. Mentally, we process the game very differently.”

By that, Harris says, he means that he and Burris can interpret the way a play will unfold before them in very different fashion. They can interpret defences and player movement in contrasting ways, meaning a similarly designed play might present itself differently to each of them after the ball is snapped.

“In terms of game processing, it’s just a little bit different,” says Harris, pointing out that he and Ray learned to read defences the same way when they both joined the Argos four years ago. He described his Toronto way of doing things as more of a progressive read – very methodic – while some of the things Burris and company had been doing were more incumbent on what he calls “alerts” – making decisions based on keys they’d see soon after the snap of the ball.

This is where Harris’ football acumen has grown this season, as he’s added new information and processes to his mind.

“We’ve also had different concepts, the one’s Hank likes – that I’ve actually learned to like – and stuff that (offensive coordinator) Jaime (Elizondo) brought over from Toronto that was successful for us, that we’ve been able to implement this year. So, it’s been a mix and match offence and the things that we’ve done. Old school CFL, West Coast, progression-based, spread concept. It’s been a lot of fun to kind of piece it together.”

That, Harris says, he sees as a positive. While Burris might look at the game a little differently than he does or Ray does, Harris sees similarities between the two mentors.

“In terms of admiration, in terms of them as a player, how much I respect them, it’s nothing different. They’re both hall-of-famers,” Harris says. “They’re both guys that you can learn from from just watching them. They’re both very open, honest, good guys to be around. They’re both great teammates.”

“I firmly believe I’ll be a great quarterback in this league for years to come.”

Trevor Harris

PHOTOS FROM REDBLACKS PRACTICE ON THURSDAY

Harris has been through the disappointment of being benched in favour of a veteran before. He shot to prominence during the 2015 season while with the Argonauts, subbing in for Ray, whose nagging shoulder difficulties kept him on the shelf for more than two thirds of a season.

It wasn’t until late in the year, with Harris struggling, that the Argos went back to Ray, who still was not a hundred per cent.

At the time, Harris wasn’t seen to sulk, at least not outwardly, still staying after practice, a solitary figure out on the field, pretending to take snaps and then imagining plays develop as he mentally went through his progressions. Outwardly, there was no sign of anger although there are those who will tell you that the slight led him to seriously consider moving to another team, which he ultimately did during this past off-season.

His work ethic has never been questionable. Still, you have to wonder how one does it. How do you keep mentally focused while you stand on the sidelines while another takes the reps that your competitive mind feels ought to be yours?

“I think you are what you repeatedly do,” answers Harris.

What he has repeatedly done is stick to the prep plan, no matter what.

It’s something Harris has been forced to adhere to again in 2016, heading back to the bench in favour of the older pivot in front of him, the same as 2015.

“I firmly believe I’ll be a great quarterback in this league for years to come,” he says, knowing his time is coming. “If I didn’t believe that then who should believe in me?”

It’s good to be prepared, Harris would tell you. If needed on Grey Cup Sunday, he’ll be ready.

He always is.