Harris feeling right at home just days after Bombers free agency deal

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This article was published 11/02/2016 (2995 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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It wasn’t just that Andrew Harris was a rookie then. He was a rookie playing out of position and so far down the depth chart you would have needed a miner’s helmet and a pick axe to unearth his name.

Harris knew how this worked. He was a token junior kid invited to B.C. Lions training camp as an extra body to ensure the regulars wouldn’t get busted up during gruelling workouts.

The chance to make any kind of impression was slim multiplied by none.

Funny thing about that… it was during one of those hot June days in training camp in 2008 when Harris jumped in to take a rep at slotback while Jason Clermont took a breather. Right then this longest of long shots from Winnipeg first began to carve out what would be a career in the Canadian Football League and, in a roundabout way, bring him right back to where it all started.

“I can still remember the moment,” said Harris Friday, not long after his first press conference as the newest member of the Blue Bombers. “The Ones (starters) were in and we were in a bunch formation. I had to crack down on Cameron Wake (6-3, 275-pound defensive end), who was then the best player in the CFL and is now one of the best in the NFL.

“I weighed about a buck-85, maybe 195, and I was this close to crapping myself thinking what this guy might to do to me when I tried to hit him. I ended up blocking him pretty good, maybe caught him off guard, and the offence went nuts.

“That’s when I started thinking, ‘Hey, maybe I could do this.’ ”

It’s never been easy for Harris, from his days with the Eastman Raiders in Steinbach and then the Grant Park Pirates and Oak Park Raiders in high school. He didn’t know his father growing up — he didn’t meet him until after he was named the Most Outstanding Canadian in the 2011 Grey Cup — and admittedly wasn’t always running with the right crowd during his early days in Winnipeg.

He left Winnipeg to join the Vancouver Island Raiders junior club after high school and still calls Hadi Abassi and Matt Blokker, the owner and former Raiders coach, his surrogate fathers. After chewing up the junior ranks, a glorious opportunity presented itself when he had a chance to commit to the powerhouse St. Mary’s Huskies college program in 2007. But the night before he was about to sign, he found out his then-girlfriend was pregnant. Harris opted to stay in Nanaimo to work and try and provide for his soon-to-be-born daughter, Hazel, while continuing to play junior.

That’s when the connection with the Lions really began to grow, as GM and head coach Wally Buono saw something in Harris. He cracked the Lions’ practice roster in 2009, made the team as a returner/special teams player in 2010. And in 2011, after making the team as a reserve running back, he got his chance to start with the Lions 1-6 and needing a spark.

The rest has been, quite frankly, astonishing. A two-time CFL all-star, Harris has missed only six games in the last five years and last season led the league in yards from scrimmage. But there were some red flags, too, with Harris being frustrated with the Lions’ struggles last year and not exactly keeping that to himself. And when he spoke during the season about being intrigued about returning home as a free agent, the divorce proceedings with the Lions had essentially begun.

“I play with a lot of emotion and my heart on my sleeve,” said Harris. “I don’t think that bode well with (former Lions coach) Jeff Tedford. That being said, we still have a good relationship. Me and Wally still have a great relationship. Me moving on from that team, just having conversations with them, there’s a lot of respect there from both sides.

“The way it ended might not have ended the best publicly, but the relationship we have personally is still good.”

Harris signed a three-year deal with the Bombers that will reportedly pay him in the $175,000 range. But while he is now closer to his daughter, his mother and other relatives, Harris said the pressure of now being a Winnipegger playing for his hometown team is only going to re-energize him.

And the fire that has long burned in his belly has never really stopped raging.

“It’s a lot of pressure, but I’m excited for it,” said Harris. “I’ve always had a chip on my shoulder. That’s how I play, that’s how I roll. The emotion is still there. It’s a hunger, a hunger to be successful. I think that’s more than ever now, coming to my hometown and playing in front of so many people I know and love and care about. I really want to represent this city well. That hunger and emotion is going to be flying high come the first game.

“It’s been a journey for me to get here. It’s been a lot of hard work and adversity, a lot of ups and downs. But that’s exactly why I play with that chip — I don’t want anyone to take this from me because I’ve worked really hard for this. I wake up every day thinking that.

“You just can’t take things for granted. I know. I’ve learned the easiest route is not always the best route.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait