Riders’ Harris ‘elated’ with recovery, but no timetable for return

Trevor Harris is on the road to recovery.

“It’s been quite a journey to get to this point right here,” the Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback said Wednesday. “It’s funny the way God works in life – a lot of times to slow you down to teach you lessons and communicate with you and learn and grow and become a master of yourself.

“I think this has been a process that has been helpful for me in a lot of ways.”

The 37-year-old suffered a tibial plateau fracture in his right knee in the fourth quarter a 33-31 loss to the Calgary Stampeders on July 15. The Roughriders announced the next day that Harris would undergo surgery, which the team later said had been a success.

Prior to the injury, Harris had the Riders at 3-1-0 after throwing for 1,271 yards, six touchdowns and four interceptions.

It was the first major injury Harris has had in his football career.

“I’m sure you have all snapped a twig over your leg at some point in your life – I heard that snap in my head and I heard it a few times,” Harris said. “I was thinking in my mind, ‘I think I just broke it in quite a few places’ and that turned out to be true.”

Harris said all that was going through his mind was a promise he made to his dad.

“That was the first time I’ve never been able to obey what my dad told me, which was walk off the field,” Harris said. “That was all I could think about at that moment – ‘Get off the field’ — but I couldn’t.”

Harris believes the work he’s putting in is paying off, with the feeling that he is ahead of schedule in terms of his recovery.

“In terms of return to play, it’s a pretty lengthy rehab but I was able to jog over five miles an hour on the underwater treadmill and I’m jogging on land,” Harris said. “I did some backwards sled walks with 150 pounds (and) forward sled marches with 150 pounds. I have been doing single-legged squats and whatnot.

“(I’m) elated with where I’m at, but (there’s) still a ways to go. But you can see that I am over the hump of the tough part of this rehab so (there are) exciting things ahead, I’m sure.”

Harris admits there still isn’t a date on when he could return — if it does happen this season.

“I’ve tried to circle dates and think about when I could be back, but I think that has taken away from being in the now and just conquering one day at a time,” Harris said.

“I’ll meet with the surgeon on Sunday to kind of track my progress and then I think I’ll see him within a week or so and from there I think we will be able to develop a timetable around then.

“I know in under two weeks, we plan on doing some field work so that is probably the most encouraging thing. If we can get to that in under the two-week mark, I think we will be on a good path to possibly (returning).”

In Harris’ absence, the Roughriders have turned to Mason Fine and — after Fine was injured — Jake Dolegala to be their starting quarterback.

Notes: Guard Philip Blake appears set to make his season debut on Friday against the Edmonton Elks. He doesn’t have an injury designation on the team’s final injury report before the depth chart is released. Blake suffered a torn pectoral muscle in the team’s final pre-season game on June 16.