ROBSERVATIONS: Top-tier TSN talent touts Trevor for MOP … Riders record-holder enters Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame … Spavital’s scoring sprint
Ideally, Trevor Harris will be dressed to the nines — a momentary departure from the sevens — this coming November in Winnipeg.
The notion of a tuxedo-clad Harris accepting the most coveted prize at the CFL Awards has left the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ resident writer salivating since April 4, when TSN legend Farhan Lalji made his weekly guest appearance on CKRM’s SportsCage.
Lalji’s segment included this prediction: “If Trevor Harris can play 17 games this year, he’ll win the MOP.”
Most Outstanding Player.
What does the Roughriders’ No. 7 — the West Division’s reigning All-CFL quarterback — make of this?
“That’s pretty cool,” Harris replied. “That’s not a goal of mine, but to say that it wouldn’t be cool would also be a lie. If anybody says, ‘I would never want to win MOP of the CFL, one of the most-respected leagues in the world,’ that’s a lie. That would be awesome to do. That would be super-cool.
“But I can tell you that I wouldn’t be standing up on that stage alone. I can tell you that a lot of my teammates would walk up there with me if that would happen, because it’s not possible without great teammates and it’s not possible without the grace of God.
“I’m more focused on, ‘What can I do to be the MOP quarterback — the most outstanding quarterback — for our team?’ As long as the guys in the locker room choose me, that’s really the most important thing that can happen for me. How can we be cohesive and get something done together and be better together? That’s really where my mindset is.
“That’s a pretty cool testament to hear somebody who is as respected as Farhan say that, especially somebody at my age. But I think he hit the nail on the head: ‘He’s got to play 17 or 18 games.’
“That’s the Number 1 goal that I wrote on my board this off-season: ‘Play all 18.’ I just want to make sure that I’m available for my teammates.”
Despite missing six starts due to a knee injury and sitting out the Roughriders’ regular-season finale because it did not have a bearing on the standings, Harris breezily threw 20 touchdown passes in 2024.
His quarterback efficiency rating (108.4) topped the CFL.
His completion percentage (72.4) established a Roughriders single-season record.
Harris, however, is not one to be consumed by statistics. But he is enamoured with 18 — as a games-played total.
“Look at Sam Emilus,” Harris, who turns 39 on May 31, said of the Roughriders’ two-time 1,000-yard receiver. “He has been available and that’s why he will be a perennial All-Star.
“(Kian Schaffer-Baker) missed some games. I think if Schaff plays all 18, he’s an All-Star. We’ve got to make sure we keep these guys healthy. We’ve got to keep Yoshi (Jermarcus Hardrick) healthy. We’ve got to keep Sean McEwen and Logan Ferland healthy.
“If we keep these guys healthy, you can make an argument that darned near 11 or 12 of our guys on offence can be an All-Star.”
(Quick interjection: 11 and 12 are also numbers favoured by Harris.)
“I think this is a great place to be,” he continued. “I’m excited about this group. I really am.
“I know people say that a lot but, heading into the season I don’t feel like we have any glaring weaknesses or any areas where you could say, ‘I just don’t know if Saskatchewan can really do it because of _____.’
“So it’s an exciting time to be a Roughrider. It’s an exciting time to be a fan. I sure hope we get Mosaic filled and make it the most difficult place to play this year.
“If we do that, I think we’re going to be singing a pretty fun song toward the end of the year.”
CALLED TO THE HALL
Growing up in Regina, Jon Ryan visited the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame while taking part in field trips with his classmates.
Now he is poised to entire the provincial sporting shrine in a different capacity — as an inductee.
Ryan, whose long and successful professional football career included two standout seasons with the Roughriders, was announced on Tuesday as one of the SSHF’s 2025 enshrinees. The formal ceremony is slated for Sept. 20 at Regina’s Conexus Arts Centre.
“It’s pretty humbling and pretty overwhelming,” Ryan, a Roughriders season-ticket member as a youth, said in a Zoom interview with reporters.
“I’ve looked up to so many people who are in that building.”
You had to look waaaaaaaay up to marvel at some of the towering punts Ryan unfurled for the Roughriders (in 2019 and 2021), Winnipeg Blue Bombers (2004-05), Green Bay Packers (2006-07), Seattle Seahawks (2008-17) and Edmonton Elks (2022).
In 2005, for example, he set a CFL record for average yards per punt (50.6). He set Saskatchewan’s single-season ceiling (48.8) in 2019.
Ryan’s talents were also on display with the Sheldon-Williams Spartans and University of Regina Rams before he ascended to the pro ranks.
He was Mr. Everything for Sheldon when it won a provincial high school football championship in 1999 — a season in which he routinely kicked the convert after scoring a touchdown.
Two years later, Ryan’s varied skills were showcased in unsurpassable fashion when he caught a 109-yard TD pass for the Rams.
“I actually loved playing receiver,” Bob and Barb Ryan’s 43-year-old son reflected. “I got to play receiver for four years with the Rams.
“When I was drafted by Winnipeg, I was actually drafted as a receiver/kicker. My dad talked to me one time and said, ‘You can probably work your butt off and be a fringe receiver in the CFL — kind of be up and down from the practice squad and maybe be a fifth receiver — and do that for four or five years and have a lot of fun, or you can kick for the next decade or two.’
“When he laid it out to me like that and I got to my first training camp and was in a couple of receivers’ drills with guys like Milt Stegall, it became apparent to me that maybe I’d better keep up with this punting thing, because maybe the receiving thing wasn’t going to last forever.”
There is permanency, by contrast, to becoming a Hall of Famer.
“This is more of an honour than a dream because it is something that has been bestowed upon me from all these great people,” Ryan said.
“It means the world to me.”
Ryan, Julie Foster (rugby) and Noah Miller (water polo) are all being inducted as athletes this year.
Klara Kesmarky Miller (gymnastics) and the late Brad Hornung (hockey) are entering Saskatchewan’s sporting shrine as builders. (Brad loved to talk about his beloved Roughriders!)
The Rams junior football team (1997 and 1998 editions) and Saskatoon Harmony Centre women’s softball teams (1978, 1980) are also being honoured.
The Class of 2025 increases the Hall’s numbers to 257 athletes, 173 builders and 131 championship teams.
SPAV-TACULAR RUN!
Former Roughriders assistant coach (1968-69) and general manager (1980-82) Jim Spavital is in the upper echelon when one prestigious NFL record is considered.
Spavital took off on a 96-yard touchdown run for the Baltimore Colts when they opposed the Green Bay Packers on Nov. 5, 1950.
At the time, it was the third-longest run in NFL history — behind 97-yarders registered by Green Bay’s Andy Uram (1939) and the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Bob Gage (1949).
All these years later, Spavital is in a four-way tie for ninth. The Dallas Cowboys’ Tony Dorsett (1982) and Tennessee Titans’ Derrick Henry (2018) share the unbreakable record of 99 yards (the American equivalent of a 109-yard TD, such as the aforementioned Ryan major).
Spavital made his NFL debut one year after playing for the Los Angeles Dons of the long-defunct All-America Football Conference (1946-49).
Earlier this month, the NFL decided to incorporate the AAFC into the all-time statistical tally. The expanded numerical base will therefore include the four interceptions Spavital snared for Los Angeles in 1949.
NUMERICAL NOTE
Defensive back Jaxon Ford will soon wear the same number his grandfather, Alan Ford, sported during 12 seasons with the Roughriders.
Ford, who wore No. 17 for the past two CFL seasons, is now No. 21.
Safety Nelson Lokombo has switched from 21 to 25.
ROLL CREDITS …
• Nice people who deserve a plug: Maysie Cruz McFeeters, Livvy Anne Hus, Livian Anne-Marie Harris, Tom Harris, Trevor Harris, A.J. Ouellette, Bernie Parent, Kevin Garinger, Terry Hornung, Mark Emmons, Leah Tang, Madison Wagner-Powers, Lucas Barrett, Herb Fung, Emma Sharp, Noah Sharp, Renae Sharp, Darrin Sharp, Roshelle Montgomery, Pete Paczko, Maddox Schultz, Bobby Evans, Jon Ryan, Barb Ryan, Virginia Wilkinson, Russ Hardman and Nick Mazurak.
