Trevor Harris completed his first touchdown pass on Saturday by being on target with a throw that travelled 31, perhaps 32, inches.
“That was a great throw, wasn’t it?” the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ quarterback quipped after a 21-18 victory over the Edmonton Elks gave the Green and White a CFL-best 6-1 record.
Samuel Emilus caught the quick chest pass two yards behind the line of scrimmage, while running a jet sweep from right to left in front of Harris, and navigated his way toward Mosaic Stadium’s north end zone for a 15-yard major.
Harris is far too modest to boast of a “great throw” that seriously fits the description, so that duty will be performed here.
Emilus was also the target for the game’s first reception — a 16-yard connection with Harris.
There was zero margin for error on the play, which Harris and Emilus executed as few can.
Emilus ran an intermediate route, approaching the middle of the field from right to left.
He was bracketed by two Elks defenders (linebacker Nick Anderson and defensive back Kobe Williams).
Complicating matters, Nyles Morgan — one of the league’s elite linebackers — stood between Harris and the intended receiver.
In a matter of milliseconds, Harris had to process the situation and potentially conflicting imperatives.
He needed to throw the football with enough trajectory and touch that it would not be batted down or, worse yet, intercepted by Morgan.
At the same time, there was the need to deliver the football with enough velocity that Anderson and Williams did not have time to make a play while already providing tight coverage.
Somehow, some way, Harris placed the ball where only Emilus could make the catch. Such a play can only happen if a receiver is trustworthy, on point with his route, and able to secure the football in traffic.
Emilus was quickly tackled by Williams, whereupon I began unravelling in the Mosaic Stadium press box.
“What … a … pass!” your correspondent spluttered.
Upon reviewing a PVR’d version of TSN’s telecast, the appraisal was upgraded to “WHAT A PASS!”
The touch demonstrated by Harris took this oldster back to Nov. 26, 1989, when the Roughriders defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 43-40 in the greatest Grey Cup game ever played, period.
A last-minute possession that led to Dave Ridgway’s championship-winning field goal began with an incompletion. Then, on second-and-10, Kent Austin feathered a picturesque pass to Ray Elgaard for a 20-yard gain.
Elgaard proceeded to step out of bounds at Hamilton’s 54-yard line with 25 seconds remaining. Austin followed up with back-to-back completions to Mark Guy, who gained 18 and 10 yards to set up Ridgway’s climactic kick.
The two throws to Guy are fondly remembered and routinely replayed. The 20-yarder to Elgaard has not received as much attention, but it was every bit as crucial.
If not for that completion, Saskatchewan’s Terry Baker would have been punting on third down. The game almost certainly would have gone into overtime. Who knows what would have happened under those circumstances?
Thankfully, it doesn’t matter. Austin to Elgaard was the catalyst for The Kick.
Elgaard was situated near the right sideline. The biggest obstacle was Tiger-Cats linebacker Pete Giftopoulos, who stood between Austin and the future Hall of Fame slotback.
Austin masterfully directed the football toward Elgaard, applying just enough arc to leave a leaping Giftopoulos grasping at air. The ball was caught just in front of defensive back Lance Shields.
“Excellent throw, over top of the linebacker,” no less of an authority than Ron Lancaster said during CBC’s telecast of the 77th Grey Cup Game.
“Great throw,” The Little General went on to say.
I brought the Austin/Elgaard collaboration to the attention of Harris, who was 1,275 days old and living in Waldo, Ohio when the Roughriders and Tiger-Cats collided with CFL supremacy at stake.
“Great throw!” Harris agreed.
Anchored to the sideline on Nov. 26, 1989 was Tom Burgess, who served as Austin’s backup when the Roughriders won their first title in precisely 23 years.
The very same Tom Burgess was surpassed by Harris on Saturday, when two TD passes gave the Roughriders’ No. 7 a career total of 191.
Burgess threw 190 scoring strikes during a nine-year CFL career that included two stops in Saskatchewan and Ottawa and a Cup-winning stint as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ starter.
On Saturday, Harris replaced Burgess as No. 16 on the league’s All-Time touchdown passes list.
Austin, coincidentally enough, is 15th (with 198).
Austin is also one spot above Harris in terms of career passing yardage. Austin, with 36,030 yards, is 13th. Harris is next in line at 35,042.
Harris is even higher (11th) on the career completions list (2,891). He is only 84 shy of tying Doug Flutie — a six-time winner of the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player Award — for 10th.
The nine quarterbacks above Flutie are Anthony Calvillo (5,892), Damon Allen (5,158), Ricky Ray (4,982), Henry Burris (4,649), Kevin Glenn (4,068), Danny McManus (3,640), Lancaster (3,384), Bo Levi Mitchell (3,173) and Matt Dunigan (3,057).
Harris is also nicely positioned to overtake Dunigan this season and ascend to ninth.
Also worth noting is the CFL record Harris has already set in 2025.
On Saturday, he completed at least 70 per cent of his passes for the 10th consecutive regular-season game.
The previous record was eight and, of course, he had a share of that mark.
“Nobody’s ever shocked with those kinds of numbers,” Head Coach Corey Mace told CKRM after Saturday’s game.
Harris is also in close race for the distinction of most accurate passer in league history.
Cody Fajardo, who was impressive behind centre for Edmonton on Saturday, is the current leader at 71.14 per cent (1,563-for-2,197).
Harris is a very close second at 70.98 (2,891-for-4,073).
Since signing with Saskatchewan in February of 2023, Harris has gone 506-for-701 for a completion rate of 72.2 per cent. He is nicely on pace to take over the franchise’s All-Time lead, based upon a minimum of 1,000 attempts. Fajardo is the current leader at 70.5.
Harris already sports the best single-season completion percentage in franchise history (last year’s figure of 72.4).
So far this season, he is at 75.9 — a league high, taking into account all quarterbacks with at least 100 attempts.
Harris also leads the loop in quarterback-efficiency rating (118.3).
At 10.13 yards per attempt, he is just behind No. 1-ranked Vernon Adams Jr. (10.18) of the Calgary Stampeders.
Harris has also produced 1,894 regulation-time yards over his first six starts — the sixth-best figure in franchise history. (See APPENDIX below for complete list.)
True to form, the Roughriders’ quarterback is far more modest than his numbers.
“I just try to do the best I can, one play at a time, to be completely transparent,” Harris said when asked about his scorching start.
“I just don’t want to let the guys down. One of the big things that has always driven me is my teammates and just trying to get better for them every year.
“I remember saying at the end of last year that I thought my best football is ahead of me and I hope it’s true. I hope it continues to be true — and I think it is, to be honest.
“I think we’ve got another level. We’ve just got to keep demanding more out of each other. For us to play at a high level, there has to be people around you.
“That’s one thing about football. It’s going to challenge you mentally, emotionally, physically and ask you to be part of something bigger than yourself. If you’re having success, it’s bigger than you.
“So the fact that I’m seen as having success this year, it’s bigger than me. It’s staff, players and everybody together.”
APPENDIX: MOST PASSING YARDS AFTER SIX STARTS
2,185 — Kent Austin, 1991
2,184 — Kent Austin, 1993
2,119 — Kent Austin, 1992
1,987 — Joe Paopao, 1985
1,965 — Darian Durant, 2010
1,894 — Trevor Harris, 2025
• For the purposes of this comparison, the totals exclude yardage registered in overtime in 1991, 1992, 1993 and 2010. Harris has yet to play in OT in 2025.
