Patrick Doyle/CFL.ca
In many cases, seeing Henry Burris retire after his legend-making performance at the Grey Cup would be slightly nerve-wracking for the Ottawa REDBLACKS. But Ottawa’s quarterback circumstances are about as ideal as you can get to move on from a guy like Burris.
Let’s not forget how good Trevor Harris was for most of last year. Burris’s successor enters the coming season as the unquestioned number one quarterback, but also with the confidence gained from a stellar 2016 campaign.
Yes, Burris replaced Harris late in the season after a couple of down games for the latter, but that’s what happens when you have two number one quarterbacks. Head Coach Rick Campbell could go with his gut and make a change and, to his credit, the decision to give the ball to Burris paid off in spades. That doesn’t mean Harris’s work in 2016 should be diminished, though.
After all, Harris threw all of four interceptions on 330 attempts last season and had a completion rate up over 73 per cent. As a result, Harris had a league-leading 116.0 quarterback rating and was getting Most Outstanding Player buzz at earlier stages of the season.
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This was all after Harris played at a number one clip for most of the 2015 season in Toronto, too. Prior to being replaced by Ricky Ray late in the season, Harris was getting the job done with the Argos and threw for over 4,300 yards at 71.0 per cent. Plain and simple, I think Harris has proven himself as a solid starting quarterback the last two seasons and has deserved his 2017 opportunity.
“Trevor’s obviously a quality guy,” said Ottawa general manager Marcel Desjardins this off-season. “We aren’t finishing where we did last year if we don’t have Trevor with us. We’re happy with him being our guy.”
And it’s not like Harris is resting on his laurels heading into the season. This is the first time Harris has entered a campaign knowing he’s the guy and he’s approaching it with the type of seriousness you’d expect.
“More than anything, I’ve done things to challenge myself mentally,” Harris said. “(Its) been really, really fun in terms of just watching film and doing different brain training and challenging myself that way.
“When you get to a certain point, you are who you are physically. I’m not going to turn into Micahel Vick all of a sudden running the football…but I think mentally is the biggest stride I can make.”
Hearing those things would be extremely encouraging as a fan of the REDBLACKS. Most fans in Ottawa were likely feeling confident with Harris at the helm to begin with, but hearing him talk about commitment and focus like that should reinforce that confidence.
Trevor Harris (left) will take the torch from all-time great Henry Burris (right) in 2017 (Johany Jutras/CFL.ca)
The REDBLACKS brought in Drew Tate this off-season in Harris gets injured or falters for some reason, and he serves as a nice contingency plan. But Ottawa is Harris’s team to guide in 2017 and, judging on what he’s done the last two seasons, I think the team is in very, very good hands.
The Battle of Alberta runs through Montana
Brock Sunderland may be new to the Edmonton Eskimos, but he’s certainly no stranger to the rivalry he’s become a part of. The CFL’s Battle of Alberta is long-standing and full of history as it gets and, despite being a rookie combatant, Edmonton’s general manager knows exactly what he’s walking into it.
Sunderland’s hiring by the Eskimos is a fascinating addition to the Battle of Alberta for a few different reasons. It’s not lip service when he talks about being familiar with Edmonton’s storied rivalry with the Calgary Stampeders. After all, Sunderland grew up just a few hours south of Calgary in Great Falls, Montana.
“I’m a northern Montana boy, so it’s basically southern Alberta,” Sunderland said when I spoke with him a few weeks ago. “I grew up watching the Stamps and the Eskimos. I love the rivalry, I think that’s what football and competitive sports are all about, so I couldn’t be more thrilled to be a part of it.”
Brock Sunderland (left) speaks with Marcel Desjardins (right) during the combine in 2016 (CFL.ca)
But it goes beyond some geographic familiarity with Sunderland. Sure, he’s familiar with the Labour Day Classic and some Calgary and Edmonton’s playoff battles, but there’s a personal side to this, too.
Sunderland now finds himself staring across the line at a guy he knows, respects, and at one time revered. That guy is Stampeders’ head coach Dave Dickenson, and the parallels between him and Sunderland are crazy.
Not only are both Sunderland and Dickenson from Great Falls, but they went to the same high school en route to playing careers with the University of Montana Grizzlies. Seven years his junior, Sunderland did more than just look up to Dickenson growing up.
“I was a ball boy when he was setting records and dominating high school, so Dave’s a guy I grew up idolizing,” Sunderland recounted.
“If you’re around my age and you played football in the state of Montana growing up, he’s a god. He’s someone I have a tremendous amount of respect for and I consider him a good friend, both him and his brother Craig.”
Of course, Sunderland’s path diverged from Dickenson’s eventually. While Dickenson made the jump to Calgary after his senior season at Montana, Sunderland stepped away from the game as a player in 2001 after injuries started to wreak havoc with his body. But after a lengthy mourning period, Sunderland made contact with the aforementioned Craig Dickenson and got hooked up as a scout with the Montreal Alouettes in 2004.
What followed was a pretty rapid and impressive career progression. Sunderland quickly made the jump from regional scout to Montreal’s director of scouting before stints with the New York Jets (pro scout) and, as we all know most recently, the Ottawa REDBLACKS as assistant general manager.
Sunderland (right) became the Esks’ GM last month following Ed Hervey’s departure (Esks.com)
Now, about 13 years after Sunderland decided to return to the game he loved, things have come pretty much full circle. He’s a day’s driving distance from home, he’s a general manager for the first time, and he’s about to fight for a West Division title with the guy he grew up idolizing.
“It’ll make the rivalry that much more intense, I think, from a personal standpoint,” says Sunderland. “But I don’t think he or I would have it any other way.”
Quick hits
Speaking of the REDBLACKS, it came as no surprise to hear how close the team is to selling out this year’s Grey Cup. So much credit goes to majority owner Jeff Hunt, Desjardins, and the rest of staff that has made the CFL’s return to Ottawa so overwhelmingly successful.
What the REDBLACKS have done in three years would be incredible by any expansion team’s standards. To have so much success, though, with the unpleasant taste of the Ottawa Renegades still fresh in so many mouths is even more remarkable. Less than 6,000 tickets remain for the Grey Cup and, knowing how rabid a football market Ottawa has become, they shouldn’t last much longer.
Finally this week, an interesting name popped up on Tuesday when the Eskimos made some roster moves. Linebacker Alex Hoffman-Ellis was one of four players released by Edmonton and is still a guy that intrigues me quite a bit.
Hoffman-Ellis’s best CFL season came in 2015 as a member of the BC Lions, with whom he made 56 tackles and had three interceptions in 17 games, 10 of them starts. He stepped in and helped make up for the loss of Solomon Elimimian and did a solid job, but was never able to find his niche with in 2016 with either the Eskimos or Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
I still think Hoffman-Ellis is an interesting player, though. At 27, there’s still lots left in the tank and his dynamite special teams resume makes him an intriguing pickup. If he’s brought in to the right situation, with a deeper group of linebackers, I think he can still be a really useful addition.
