Double-1,000 season still on track

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This article was published 18/10/2017 (2380 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Twenty years later, he says there are no regrets.

When Robert Drummond earned the third of his four Grey Cup rings in 1997, the Toronto Argonauts tailback nearly became a charter member of the 1,000-1,000 club when he ran for 1,134 yards and caught 85 passes for 840 more. What’s more, he racked up these totals despite missing three games with a serious knee injury.

No CFL running back before or since has reached the milestone but Winnipeg’s Andrew Harris could do just that. With three regular-season games remaining, including Saturday’s matchup in Toronto, the Blue Bombers workhorse has amassed 871 rushing yards and 816 yards through the air and needs to average 43 rushing yards and 62 passing to make league history.

“I’m still gunning for it,” said the 30-year-old Harris following practice at Investors Group Field Thursday afternoon. “I know I’m a little behind right now. You’ve gotta take one game at a time. This game is such a big one for us in clinching second place. That’s the focus. (But) part of us doing well on offence is myself getting touches.”

Drummond said 1997 was a dream season, a meniscus tear in his left knee notwithstanding.

Led by quarterback Doug Flutie and blessed with playmakers such as Mike (Pinball) Clemens, Jimmy (the Jet) Cunningham and Derrell (Mookie) Mitchell, the Argos went 15-3 and swept through the post-season, crushing the Saskatchewan Roughriders 47-23 in the Grey Cup game. Current Winnipeg head coach Mike O’Shea was an integral member of the Toronto defence.

“It wasn’t so much gunning for it,” said Drummond via telephone earlier this week from his home in Syracuse, N.Y. “It was just a part of our offence and how everything worked out. I was a receiver as well as a runner, so it made our offence that much better with me being a receiving threat.

“It was a lot of fun to play with. A lot of weapons on that team.”

Drummond’s story has some striking similarities to Harris. Both players are/were gifted runners but they excelled in large part due to their uncanny pass-catching skills.

Prior to joining the Argos for back-to-back Grey Cup wins in 1996 and ‘97, Drummond served as Canadian Football Hall of Famer Mike Pringle’s understudy with the Baltimore Stallions. Baltimore’s coaching staff, looking for additional opportunities to involve Drummond in the offence, often sent the 6-1, 225-pounder out as a wide receiver.

That pattern followed him to Toronto, where he teamed up with another Hall of Famer — the magical Flutie.

“I was an integral part of the offence and the offence went through me,” said Drummond. “The simple fact (was) I could line up outside as a wide receiver, because I played receiver in college, I could line up as a fullback or as the main running back, I was a power back also. It gave Doug a lot of options. We just looked at matchups and moved me around and go with the best matchups.

“If you put a linebacker on me, I run a 4.3 (40), so it was a matchup problem for defences. That’s what we tried to do.”

Harris creates plenty of matchup headaches himself.

“We have lots of sets where I go out as a slotback, not as a wide receiver,” said Harris. “(I’m) still in the backfield but we definitely have formations where our tags are releasing me as a receiver. I’ve caught a fair number of balls from a receiver position. Mainly, it’s checkdowns and coming out of the backfield but I do line up as a receiver as well.”

Harris also paid his dues, slowly learning his craft before he became a star. In 2005, he made his junior debut for the Vancouver Islander Raiders and spent time at slotback before graduating to running back. When he turned pro with the B.C. Lions in 2009, he spent time on the practice roster and special teams. Harris also added receiving to his repetoire before head coach Wally Buono made him the starting tailback in 2011.

“That’s when I learned most of my receiving skills,” said Harris. “(Assistant coach) Jacques Chapdelaine, (veteran wide receiver) Geroy (Simon) kind of took me under their wing and taught me how to run routes properly and catch the ball with hand placement. There’s two years in the professional ranks and two years in junior where there was a big focus on it.”

Drummond doesn’t worry about what might have been.

His 1997 season was interrupted by injury after he caught a shovel pass and twisted his knee in a game against Winnipeg. He returned to the lineup for Toronto’s final regular-season game in Montreal.

“Could I have played on it?” said Drummond. “I probably could have finished playing and broke the record but at that point, I said to myself, ‘Why, try to go after a record when winning a Grey Cup is more important?’”

Harris, naturally, would love to cap the season with a Grey Cup title. A hockey player when he was very young, he didn’t play football until Grade 8 and only has a faint recollection of those powerhouse Toronto teams in the 1990s.

Drummond, now 50 and a personal trainer, keeps tabs on the CFL and is well aware of Harris’s shot at history.

“He’s a heckuva a running back,” said Drummond. “It’s interesting to watch him play. We’re different in stature but his ability to make plays is amazing. As a football player, he’s what we call a baller.

“Tell the man good luck — he’d be the first.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @sawa14