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Harris not feeling nostalgic about facing former Toronto Argonauts teammates

Jul 13, 2016 | 4:35 PM

TORONTO — Trevor Harris isn’t feeling the least big nostalgic about facing his former team for the first time.

Harris leads the Ottawa Redblacks into BMO Field on Wednesday night against the Toronto Argonauts. The six-foot-one, 210-pound quarterback spent his first four CFL seasons with the Argos and went 9-7 as their starter last year while incumbent Ricky Ray recovered from off-season shoulder injury.

In February, Harris signed a two-year deal with Ottawa as a free agent.

“I think it (Toronto return) is something that’s overblown,” Harris told The Canadian Press via telephone Tuesday. “They’ve moved on, I’ve moved on.

“I’m very very thankful for the years I had in Toronto . . . anything not about the Ottawa Redblacks I don’t think too much about. We just want to play the best we can against a great Eastern foe and see where we stack up.”

Harris, 30, has made an immediate impact with Ottawa (2-0-1). He came off the bench to replace injured starter Henry Burris (hand) and guide the defending East Division champions to a thrilling 45-37 overtime win over Edmonton in a Grey Cup rematch.

Harris leads the CFL in passing yards (1,083) and touchdowns (nine) and has found a favourite target in Chris Williams. The speedy Williams is the league’s top receiver with 25 catches for 493 yards and six TDs to anchor Ottawa’s top-ranked offence.

Toronto (2-1) is coming off two straight road wins and looking to play better at home than it did in a 42-20 loss to Hamilton last month in the first-ever regular-season game at BMO Field.

But Toronto’s defence must concern itself with more than stopping Williams as Brad Sinopoli, Greg Ellingson and Earnest Jackson were also 1,000-yard receivers last season.

Ottawa leads lead the CFL in total yards (520 per game), passing yards (444.7), yards per play (eight) and first downs (26.3) while standing second in scoring (33 points) and yards rushing (105). The Redblacks have also converted a league-best 47-of-77 second-down opportunities (61 per cent).

“Honestly, it’s all about our offensive line,” Harris said. “If you watch the film, many of the throws we’re making . . . we’re not under a ton of pressure.

“They’re picking up blitzes real well and when they bring more than we can handle we’re getting the ball out. Jamie (offensive co-ordinator Jamie Elizondo, Toronto’s former receivers coach) has us really well prepared.”

Ray is looking forward to speaking with Harris — his former roommate — before kickoff.

“It’s tough not having him here because we work so well together talking a lot of football,” Ray said. “It will be nice to go up against him but it’s a team game.

“It’s not like I’m going to be trying to sack him.”

Ray, 36, will also chase a career milestone. He needs just 19 passing yards to move into fourth all-time ahead of Danny McManus (53,255), who’s expected to attend.

“When you get as old as me you eclipse some of those at some point,” Ray said with a chuckle. “Not that I take them for granted but I’m definitely not thinking about it.”

Toronto head coach Scott Milanovich also expects to speak with Harris before kickoff.

“The way it affects us is he’s really hot right now,” Milanovich said. “They’re playing really well on offence, that’s the problem, not that Trevor was once our quarterback.”

Defensive end Ricky Foley had a simple approach regarding how Toronto could take Harris off his game.

“You hit No. 7 (Harris) in the mouth, you do your part,” he said. “It’s hard to get sacks in this league and if you get them it’s because of your coverage, it’s because the quarterback is holding the ball for more than three seconds.

“We know about Trevor because he did such a great job for us last year but No. 80 (Williams) makes their offence go. We’ve got to take away Trevor’s first read, we’ve got to take away No. 80 and then it’s our defensive line versus their offensive line.”

The game is important for both teams because it’s a conference matchup. But it’s the first of three straight inter-division contests for Toronto, which hosts Montreal on July 25 before heading to Ottawa on July 31.

“I usually don’t look too far ahead but this could be a significant stretch for us,” Milanovich said. “If you do well you could put yourself into a good situation.

“If you don’t you then you’re playing catchup for a whole season.”

Foley agrees.

“These East games are important because they’re a four-point swing in the division,” he said. “We really need to get this one for first place and to keep the momentum going.”

Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press