‘It hypes you up:’ Harris excited for first regular-season game in Rider green

Trevor Harris is excited to get back to the daily grind of preparing for a CFL opponent.

“It’s awesome. It feels like game week and you get to come out here at Mosaic and play in this beautiful stadium,” the 37-year-old Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback said Wednesday. “There’s a CFL game on (Thursday) night and you get excited to go home and watch that and watch some CFL football.

“The season is here and it hypes you up, doesn’t it?”

While Harris is entering his 11th season in the league, head coach Craig Dickenson said he can still see the excitement in the veteran QB when he takes the field for practice.

“He loves football. When you take care of yourself the way he does, you know that it is important to you,” Dickenson said. “I think his enthusiasm for the game is contagious.”

While Harris wasn’t in any danger of being cut ahead of the team’s first practice this week, he knows it’s still special to see his name on the final roster.

“I was walking up the stairs with Zach Collaros (in Toronto in 2012) and we knew Ricky Ray was going to start. We were walking up the stairs and the GM stopped us and said, ‘We’re going to keep both of you guys on our roster,’ ” Harris recalled.

“I was coming off of arena football making $400 a week and substitute teaching making $60 a day and I was like, ‘Whoa, $52,000 — this is sick.’ I was really excited.

“That’s not to say I didn’t celebrate that this year. That’s one of the best days of the year, when you’ve made the team for Week 1 and you made the opening-day roster.”

The Riders’ game Sunday against the host Edmonton Elks will be the first time a game will count in the standings for each team this season, but also will be the first time Rider fans will get a chance to see their new starting quarterback in action for more than just a drive.

In his lone pre-season appearance, Harris went 4-for-4 for 72 yards and a touchdown before he was taken out of Friday’s game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Kickoff for Sunday’s regular-season opener is set for 5 p.m.

“We’re going to go out there and play every play and execute one play at a time and the game will take care of itself,” Harris said.

Harris played two seasons in Edmonton from 2019 to ’21 (the 2020 CFL season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic) but said he doesn’t get any extra motivation heading back to Commonwealth Stadium.

“At this point in my career with how many teams I have played for, you almost feel like you could have a personal situation with any team,” Harris said. “I never take anything personally and try to never make assumptions.

“I do my very best always and be impeccable with my word. I just try to grind out every day and be the best I can for my teammates.”

Notes: Slotback Brayden Lenius (lower back) and guard Philip Blake (chest) both missed practice Wednesday. Dickenson wouldn’t comment on if either would play Sunday or not … Linebacker Derrick Moncrief (shoulder) was limited in practice as well and remains questionable for Week 1 … A lot of attention has been on who will back up Harris in the season opener. Mason Fine was the only other quarterback to throw a football in scrimmage against the defence during Wednesday’s practice.