ROBSERVATIONS: Riders have a legend behind centre … Green and White bands together … Shawn Bane Jr.’s French connection
Trevor Harris fielded an age-old question.
During Friday’s pre-game yak session with the media, the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ starting quarterback was asked for his thoughts on his age (40) routinely being attached to his good name in stories that are broadcast or written.
“I feel like it has been like this the whole time,” he said leading up to Saturday’s regular-season opener against the B.C. Lions (5 p.m., Mosaic Stadium).
“Every year, it’s like, ‘Well, Trevor’s another year older and he’s probably going to fall off.’ I’ve been preparing for this stage of my career for the last 10, 15 years.
“I’ve told people over the last three, four or five years that age will not be what makes me decline. It won’t be a physical decline. It’ll be when I want to be done. That’s what I hope.
“Maybe someday they’ll believe me, but I’m not holding my breath on that. Maybe Rob’s the only guy who believes me.”
This true believer was quick to concur that 40 is not old — unlike (gulp) 62.
I mean, let’s be real here. My career is 19 days older than Trevor Harris.
“As a disclaimer here, there’s the movie 300,” he hastened to add. “The elite Spartan warriors served until they were 60, so 40’s not that old.
“Maybe I’m just saying that because I’m 40.”
Or one year younger than then-Ottawa teammate Henry Burris was in 2016 when he quarterbacked the REDBLACKS to a 39-33 overtime victory over the Calgary Stampeders in the 104th Grey Cup Game. Smilin’ Hank completed 35 of 46 passes for 461 yards and two TDs — including the game-winner to Ernest Jackson — and ran for two more scores in a fittingly fantastic farewell performance.
The previous year, at 40, Burris had been named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player.
Harris, at 39, earned Grey Cup MVP honours in 2025 after setting a championship-game completion-percentage record (85.2) in the Roughriders’ 25-17 victory over the Montreal Alouettes.
A supremely conditioned athlete, Harris has proven time and again that age is not a factor.
Consider, too, that he did not become a full-time starter until 2015, when he was 29. Most 40-year-olds have considerably more clicks on the odometer.
In any event, Harris is the first 40-year-old quarterback to begin a season with the Roughriders. Ron Lancaster was 39 when Saskatchewan opened the 1978 season. He turned 40 just 15 days before his final game.
The only other 40-something quarterback in Roughriders history is Kerry Joseph, who had just turned 41 when his second stint in green and white began on Oct. 9, 2014.
Joseph is best remembered for a signature season (2007) in which he was the league’s Most Outstanding Player and the victorious quarterback in the 95th Grey Cup Game.
Harris, Lancaster, Joseph, Kent Austin and Darian Durant are the five Grey Cup-winning starting quarterbacks in Roughriders history.
Riders royalty, across the board.
Any doubt about whether Harris would one day be enshrined in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame was removed when he completed 23 of 27 passes in the 2025 Grey Cup Game.
His legacy secured, he could have retired in storybook fashion after that game, but fans’ pleas for “one more year!” were clearly heard — not that he was inclined to step away from the game, anyway.
“I get to play football,” Harris said. “That’s something I think has been one of my superpowers. I just like to play ball. I like to be the quarterback. I like to lead and I like to be part of something bigger than myself. That’s a candle that burns brightly, no matter what. I don’t think it’s one that dwindles down until there’s nothing left.
“There’s no more evidence of that than last year, when we won the Grey Cup. It didn’t really change how I felt about my career up to this point. I just like to play ball. I think (last year) just verified what I’ve always known about myself.”
Harris is poised to become only the second 40-year-old quarterback to participate in a Roughriders season opener.
Damon Allen was six weeks shy of his 41st birthday when he called signals for the host Toronto Argonauts against Saskatchewan on June 15, 2004. He capped that season by guiding Toronto to a title and being named the Grey Cup MVP.
Two years later, at 42, Allen was recognized as the league’s Most Outstanding Player.
BAND OF BROTHERS
Harris has again conceptualized, manufactured and distributed message-driven wristbands to his teammates and the coaching staff.
In 2024, it was Don’t Flinch.
Last year, prophetically, Harris introduced SR Time. (Uttered quickly, it sounds like It’s Our Time.)
This time around, the message is twofold: (1) Check Ball; (2) R Factor. Head Coach Corey Mace was the influence behind Check Ball, which also resonates with Harris.
“Check Ball is kind of a basketball term,” Mace said. “No matter what (the circumstances), we don’t care. Check the ball. Let’s go play.”
R Factor was coined by Harris.
“There’s an event, a response and an outcome,” he explained. “The event and outcome are things you don’t control, but you do control how you respond.
“Basically, what I told the team (on Friday) is that we’re not chasing last year. We’re chasing a standard we’ve set and we’re trying to raise that. After what happened last year, with the standard we set, how are we going to respond to that? The response is, ‘We’re going to raise the standard.’
“We’ve all moved on. We probably moved on quicker than we should have, to be honest, from the Grey Cup.”
Now it’s all about moving up.
“It has been said that life is 10 per cent what happens to you and 90 per cent how you deal with it,” Harris continued. “How the season goes is going to be how we respond.”
And how about the response to the wristbands?
Harris really started something with Don’t Flinch.
“It’s pretty cool,” he said. “Hopefully whoever the quarterback is after me will continue the tradition of doing this with the head coach. Hopefully we’ve started something.
“We were building something special in the first year (under Mace). Last year, it was SR Time. I think people have tried to steal that saying and say it’s someone else’s, when it was really ours.
“I feel like we’ve embodied what we have on this wristband, so I think we’re going to be people who respond this year. I think we’re going to just say, ‘Line up and play. Spot the ball. It doesn’t matter (what the situation is).’ That’s just going to be who we are and what we embody.”
PASSING FANCY
Week 2 of the 2026 season has been a showcase for quarterbacks — and there’s more to come.
On Thursday, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ Bo Levi Mitchell (three TD passes, 158.7 efficiency rating) and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ Zach Collaros (421 passing yards, 126.0) displayed their Hall of Fame-calibre skills.
On Friday night, Toronto’s Chad Kelly (445 yards, three TDs) and Montreal’s Davis Alexander (441 yards, two TDs) were the featured performers in a classic CFL shootout.
Today, we will be treated to offences led by Trevor Harris and Nathan Rourke.
BANE ON A PLANE
Talk about Bane’s World!
Shawn Bane Jr., a Roughrider from 2023 to 2025, has signed with the Paris Lights of the American Football League of Europe.
While wearing No. 15 for the Roughriders, Bane Jr. amassed a league-best 93 receptions for 1,104 yards with Saskatchewan in 2023. The following year, he caught three touchdown passes in a season-opening victory over Edmonton.
In so doing, Bane Jr. tied a team record for TD receptions in a game. The feat had previously been accomplished by Hugh Campbell (five times), Joey Walters (twice), Curtis Marsh (twice), Jack Hill, Bob Renn, Tom Campana, Rhett Dawson, Ray Elgaard, Jeff Fairholm, Don Narcisse, Andy Fantuz, Weston Dressler and Samuel Emilus.
ROLL CREDITS …
• Nice people who deserve a plug: Val Livingstone, Leah Spafford, Ryan McDonald, Raygan Johnson, Craig Reynolds, Desmond Evans, Kelsey Clairmont, Jason Delesoy, Albert Awachie, Sarah Oneschuk, James Letcher Jr., Shawn Bane Jr., Alex Hale, Jermarcus Hardrick, Payton Collins, Bill Wright, Bill Ursel, Kathleen Wall, Kalie Harris, Josh Robins, Evan McFeeters, Cindy Fuchs, Duncan Lamb, Dave Hanni, Dale Richter and Gerald Saul.
