‘As a kid, you pray for the opportunity’: Fine ready to take the reins of Riders’ offence

Mason Fine is preparing for what could be a career-making opportunity.

The 26-year-old quarterback from Peggs, Okla., will be the man the Saskatchewan Roughriders turn to with Trevor Harris on the road to recovery due to a knee injury.

“It’s a big opportunity with an injury like that,” Fine said after practice Tuesday at Mosaic Stadium. “As a little kid, you pray for the opportunity — (but) you don’t want to do it that way.

“It’s football. We’re professionals and I know I’m prepared to step up to the plate and be the best quarterback I can be for this team and go and win games.”

Harris was injured when he was forced to scramble in the fourth quarter of Saskatchewan’s 33-31 loss Saturday to the Calgary Stampeders. As he was going down, his knee was twisting and a member of the Stamps rolled onto his leg, forcing the 37-year-old quarterback to leave the game on a cart.

Riders general manager Jeremy O’Day said Harris underwent successful surgery but it is a long-term recovery process.

“Trevor was the starter for a reason and he has all the experience in our league and the success that he has had and has great leadership skills,” O’Day said. “The things you get in a veteran quarterback is not just them playing at a certain level but also raising the level of players around them and be able to direct the receivers.

“It’s not something you look forward to, but you also have to be optimistic that the next quarterback is going to get his opportunity.”

Prior to coming to the CFL, Fine played four seasons at the University of North Texas with the Mean Green. There, he threw for 12,237 yards, with 91 touchdowns and 32 interceptions.

Fine entered Saturday’s game following the injury to Harris and threw for 116 yards and two touchdowns. He also started the final two games last season — both of which were losses to the Stamps — after the team elected to bench Cody Fajardo. Over those two games, Fine threw for 364 yards and one touchdown.

He said those games, and his previous two seasons, have helped prepare him for this chance.

“(I’ve been) learning from the professionals before me – those veteran guys and those mentors,” Fine said. “(I) just try to get one day better. What can I do in the film room better to make myself more prepared? What can I do in the weight room with the coaches in there? What can I do nutritionally just to get better?

“As you get older, hopefully you get better each and every day because if you’re not going forward, you’re going backwards.”

The Riders’ offence isn’t expected to change much despite the quarterback change, with offensive co-ordinator Kelly Jeffrey saying a lot of the off-season work went into planning to have Fine or Jake Dolegala as the team’s starter.

“When I first took this job, I had about three months of designing an offence before Trevor Harris was even a thought in our minds (as a free-agent signing),” Jeffrey said. “The whole time I was putting things together, I was thinking about Mason and thinking about Jake Dolegala and how we can get them to best move the football.

“In a way, this offence is set up more for (Fine) than it is for Trevor.”

It’s a tough test facing Fine in his first start of 2023 – Saskatchewan will travel to Vancouver and take on the West Division-leading B.C. Lions on Saturday.

Notes: Riders head coach Craig Dickenson said slotback Brayden Lenius is expected to play next week in Touchdown Atlantic against the Toronto Argonauts. Lenius returned to practice Tuesday in what is his final week on the six-game injured list … Centre Peter Godber (hand) is expected to practise Wednesday. Dickenson said Godber is close to being ready … Slotback Kian Schaffer-Baker (hip) and slotback Jake Wieneke (knee) are still weeks away … Defensive end Anthony Lanier II (foot) didn’t practise on Tuesday … Defensive end Pete Robertson (ankle) was limited.