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Andrew Harris (Canadian football)

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Andrew Harris
Vancouver Island Raiders
Harris with the Argonauts in 2023
Born: (1987-04-24) April 24, 1987 (age 37)
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Career information
StatusActive
CFL statusNational
Position(s)Director of Football Operations
Height5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight202 lb (92 kg)
CJFLVancouver Island Raiders
(2006-2009)
Career history
As administrator
2024–presentVancouver Island Raiders
(Director of Football Operations)
As player
2009–2015BC Lions
2016–2021Winnipeg Blue Bombers
2022–2023Toronto Argonauts
Career highlights and awards
CFL All-Star2012, 2015–2018
CFL West All-Star2012, 2015–2019
AwardsWally Buono Award (2009)
CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian (2017)
Grey Cup Most Valuable Canadian (2011, 2019)
Grey Cup Most Valuable Player (2019)
CFL rushing yards leader (2017-2019)
Dr. Beattie Martin Trophy (2017, 2018)
Eddie James Memorial Trophy (2015, 2017, 2018, 2019)
Career stats
Rushing yds10,380
Rushing TDs51
Receiving yds5,489
Receiving TDs32

Andrew Harris (born April 24, 1987) is a former professional Canadian football running back who played for 14 years in the Canadian Football League (CFL). Harris is a four-time Grey Cup champion, two-time winner of the Grey Cup Most Valuable Canadian and one-time Grey Cup Most Valuable Player, as well as a five-time CFL All-Star and a six-time CFL West All-Star. He played for the BC Lions for six seasons before joining the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2016 as a free agent, where he was named the 2017 Most Outstanding Canadian after leading the league in rushing and setting the record for single-season receptions by a running back. In 2022, while a member of the Toronto Argonauts, Harris passed 10,000 career rushing yards and became the CFL leader in career yards from scrimmage by a Canadian.[1]

Early years

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Harris was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and spent his early years in Steinbach, Manitoba, where he started playing football at age 9 with the Eastman Raiders.[2] He is of Barbadian descent through his father.[3] He played high school football at Grant Park High School in Winnipeg through his junior year and transferred to Oak Park High School before his senior year.

Junior career

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After high school in Winnipeg, Harris joined the Vancouver Island Raiders of the Canadian Junior Football League. During his junior career, he led the Raiders to three national championships (2006, 2008, and 2009) and broke a number of British Columbia conference and CJFL records, including all-time touchdowns and scoring. In 2009, he was awarded the Wally Buono Award for most outstanding junior football player in Canada.[4][5]

Professional career

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Harris with the Lions in 2011

BC Lions

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The head coach and general manager of the BC Lions, Wally Buono, took notice of Harris' talents in junior football and claimed him as a territorial exemption on May 22, 2008.[6] On December 15, 2008, the Lions announced that they had signed Harris.[7] He joined the Lions' practice roster in 2009, while continuing to play his final season of junior for the Raiders.

In 2010, Harris earned a spot on the Lions active roster and was primarily used on special teams in his first season. He was named the CFL's special teams player of the week on September 14, 2010.[8]

Harris began the 2011 season as the Lions' backup running back. Harris saw his role expand and he took over as the starting running back in mid-season, finishing with 853 total yards and eight touchdowns.[9][10] In the playoffs, Harris was named the Canadian player of the week for his performance in the Lions' win over the Edmonton Eskimos in the West Division Final. A week later, Harris was named the Most Outstanding Canadian at the Grey Cup, scoring a touchdown and rushing for 65 yards over 10 carries in the Lions 34–23 win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.[11][12]

On December 29, 2011, Harris and the Lions agreed to a two-year contract extension, with an option for year three.[13]

Following a strong 2011 campaign, Harris became the starting running back for the 2012 CFL season. Harris continued his strong play and became the ninth Canadian running back to rush for 1,000 yards in a season and the first Canadian BC Lion to rush for a 1,000 yards since Sean Millington in 2000. Fellow Canadian running back Jon Cornish also ran for 1,000 yards, marking the first time since 1956 that two Canadian running backs ran for 1,000 yards in the same season.[14] Despite seeing increased rushing attempts in the 2013 CFL season, his total yards fell short of 1000, finishing with 998. Harris added 61 pass receptions for 513 yards. Prior to the 2014 CFL season Harris and the Lions agreed to a contract extension through the 2015 CFL season.[15]

Harris's 2014 campaign was cut short by injuries, missing the final six games of the season due to injury. He finished the season with 652 yards on 122 carries (5.3 average) with two rushing touchdowns. He added 529 receiving yards on 46 catches with four touchdowns. Harris finished the 2015 CFL season with the second most rushing yards, trailing Montreal's Tyrell Sutton by 20 yards (1,059 to 1,039). He set a career-high in rushing attempts with 222, while simultaneously posting a career worst 4.7 yards per carry. Immediately following playoff elimination as a pending free-agent, Harris expressed his displeasure with the BC Lions organization, putting his future with the club in doubt.[16]

Winnipeg Blue Bombers

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Harris signed with his hometown Winnipeg Blue Bombers as a free agent on February 9, 2016.[17] During the 2016 season Harris played in all but 3 of the regular season games for the Blue Bombers, missing some time with an ankle injury.[18] He finished the season third in the league in rushing yards, falling short of the 1,000 yard plateau by only 26 yards. In a game against the Edmonton Eskimos in 2017, Harris set a professional first by surpassing 100 yards in both rushing and receiving, netting a total of 225 yards in the game.[19] He finished the season with 1,035 rushing yards, winning his first league rushing title.[20] He also led all players with the most receptions, with 105, which was also a record for running backs, with the previous record of 102 held by Craig Ellis.[21] Harris's strong play was rewarded in May 2018 when he and the Bombers agreed to a two-year contract extension.[22] In 2018, he set a career-high for rushing yards and once again led the league in rushing with 1390 yards.

Andrew Harris with his wife (right) and Jeff Hecht at the 2019 Grey Cup parade in Winnipeg

During the 2019 CFL season, Harris surpassed the 8,000 rushing yard mark for his career, in a game against the Argonauts at home.[23] On August 15, 2019, Harris became the all-time leader in yards from scrimmage by a Canadian player, surpassing Ben Cahoon's 13,368 yards from scrimmage.[1] In the same game, he passed Dave Thelen and entered the top ten all-time in rushing yards. Harris is the only player in league history to record over 4000 rushing yards with two different teams.[1] On August 26, 2019 Harris was suspended two games by the league for violating the CFL/CFLPA drug policy after testing positive for Metandienone.[24] In Winnipeg's final regular season game, Harris broke the record previously held by Normie Kwong for career rushing yards by a Canadian player in the CFL; the play on which he broke the record set up Winnipeg's game winning field goal over Calgary.[25]

Harris with the Blue Bombers in 2016

Despite winning the CFL rushing title by more than 300 yards Harris was not selected as a team nominee for either Most Outstanding Player (Willie Jefferson), or Most Outstanding Canadian (Mike Miller).[26] Miller's nomination caused controversy; as mostly a special teams player, Miller's statistical output was far below Harris's. Miller was the team co-leader for special teams tackles with 25, and with only 10 yards rushing and 63 yards receiving, Miller was outgained by Harris in terms of yards from scrimmage by a combined 1,836 yards. Miller himself stated his belief that Harris was the best Canadian player on the Blue Bombers by writing, “I will accept the Canadian nomination on Andrew’s behalf, but do so reluctantly and while completely disagreeing with his omission.” Voter Ted Wyman wrote a piece stating that Harris's positive test for a banned substance prevented Wyman from giving Harris a vote.[27] Meanwhile, Bob Irving, a local radio announcer and the lone voter for Harris defended him; “I believe that a 2-game suspension, 2 missed game cheques and public embarrassment in July was punishment enough—I proudly voted for him.”[28]

Harris helped the underdog Blue Bombers win their first Grey Cup since 1990 against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the 107th Grey Cup game.[29][30] He became the first ever player to win Most Valuable Player and Most Valuable Canadian in Grey Cup history after he recorded 18 carries for 134 rushing yards, five catches for 35 receiving yards, and both a rushing touchdown and a receiving touchdown.[31] Following the win of his hometown team Harris said "I'm so proud to be a Winnipegger and I can't wait to get back and share this with all them. I just wanted to prove it to my teammates and deliver for them. Everything else, whatever. I just wanted to be the best player I could be today."[29]

Harris raises the Grey Cup at Winnipeg's 2021 Grey Cup celebration at IG Field

Harris did not play in 2020 as the 2020 CFL season was cancelled. On January 15, 2021, it was announced that Harris had signed a one-year contract extension with the Blue Bombers.[32] Harris missed the first three games of the season with a calf injury. He played in six games in the middle of the regular season, carrying the ball 116 times for 623 yards with three touchdowns. On October 22, 2021 the Bombers announced that they had placed Harris on the six-game injured list because of a knee injury he suffered when he scored a touchdown against the Edmonton Eskimos.[33] Harris would not play for the rest of season until the 2021 Western Division Finals. In the West Division Finals, Harris carried the team to their second consecutive Grey Cup as he had 136 yards rushing and a TD as the Bombers ended the Roughriders year for the third consecutive season.[34] He became a free agent upon the expiry of his contract on February 8, 2022.[35]

Toronto Argonauts

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On February 8, 2022, Harris agreed to terms with the Toronto Argonauts after spending six seasons with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.[36] In his fifth game with the Argonauts, on July 24, 2022, he became the sixth player in CFL history to rush for over 10,000 yards and is the only Canadian player to accomplish the feat.[37] On August 16, 2022, mid-way through the 2022 season, it was initially announced that Harris would be out for the next 4–6 weeks with a torn pectoral muscle, however the following day it was announced he would miss the remainder of the season after undergoing surgery.[38][39] At the time of the injury, Harris had played in eight games for the Argos and was third in the league in rushing yards with 490. Harris returned to the active roster in the East Division Final vs. the Montreal Alouettes and scored his first touchdown with the Argonauts. One week later, Harris helped Toronto win the 109th Grey Cup by defeating his former team, the Blue Bombers.

On March 2, 2023, it was announced that Harris had re-signed with the Argonauts.[40] He began the season as the backup running back, but still saw significant playing time. On July 29, 2023, he surpassed Charles Roberts as the CFL's fifth all-time leader rusher.[41] He finished the regular season on the six-game injured list, but still played in 12 regular season games where he had 49 carries for 229 yards and two touchdowns along with 10 receptions for 86 yards and one touchdown. He returned for the team's East Final playoff game, where he had two carries for four yards, but the Argonauts were defeated by the Alouettes. His contract with the Argonauts expired on February 13, 2024.[42]

Career statistics

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Legend
* Led the league
≈ Won the Grey Cup
± Grey Cup MVP
Bold Career high
Year Team Games Rushing Receiving
GP GS Att Yards Avg TD Long Rec Yards Avg TD
2010 BC 18 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2011 BC≈ 18 11 96 458 4.8 1 32 30 395 13.1 7
2012 BC 18 18 187 1112 6.0 7 61 75 718 9.6 5
2013 BC 18 18 198 998 5.0 7 25 61 513 8.4 4
2014 BC 12 12 122 652 5.3 2 58 46 529 11.5 4
2015 BC 18 18 222* 1039 4.7 8* 33 53 584 11.0 2
2016 WPG 15 15 195 974 5.0 4 29 67 631 9.4 1
2017 WPG 18 18 189 1035* 5.5 6 26 105 857 8.2 1
2018 WPG 18 18 239 1390* 5.8 8 43 64 451 7.8 3
2019 WPG≈± 16 16 225* 1380* 6.1 4 56 70 529 7.6 4
2020 WPG Season cancelled
2021 WPG≈ 7 7 116 623 5.4 3 24 11 116 10.5 1
2022 TOR≈ 8 8 114 490 4.3 0 19 23 180 7.8 0
2023 TOR 12 0 49 229 4.7 2 13 10 86 8.6 1
CFL totals 196 159 1,952 10,380 5.3 51 61 609 5,489 9.1 32

Executive career

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On February 11, 2023, it was announced that Harris had accepted a position as the head of football operations and head coach for the Vancouver Island Raiders for the 2024 season, after his playing career had ended.[43] However, on January 24, 2024, the Raiders announced that Harris had accepted a position on the board of directors while remaining the director of football operations.[44] The team's interim head coach from 2023, Shawn Arabsky, was instead named the head coach for 2024.[44]

Personal

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Harris cites his idols as former Winnipeg Blue Bombers running back Charles Roberts, and hockey player Steve Yzerman.[12] Throughout his professional career, Harris wore #33 as a tribute to a Vancouver Island Raiders teammate who died in a car crash in September 2008.[5] Harris has a daughter and continues to make Winnipeg his home during the off-season.[8]

On July 5th, 2024 Harris signed a contract with the Tillsonburg Thunder of the Western Ontario Super Hockey League, a Senior AA men’s hockey league with teams ranging from Richmond Hill to Tilbury Ontario.

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Harris becomes all-time Canadian leader in yards from scrimmage". CFL. August 15, 2019.
  2. ^ Scott Taylor (April 2, 2014). "Winnipeg's Andrew Harris Signs Extension With B.C. Lions". MyToba.ca. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 13, 2014.
  3. ^ "Football star wants to meet Bajan dad". www.nationnews.com. December 30, 2012.
  4. ^ "The dilemma of being Canadian in the CFL". Vancouver Sun. October 28, 2011. Retrieved November 28, 2011.[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ a b "Lions' Andrew Harris 'too good to be true'". The Province. October 17, 2011. Retrieved November 28, 2011.
  6. ^ "Transactions – Football player trades and signings". Canadian Football League. Retrieved August 18, 2022.
  7. ^ "Lions release Williams, sign junior phenom". Canadian Football League. Retrieved December 15, 2008.
  8. ^ a b "Andrew Harris profile at BCLions.com". Archived from the original on February 20, 2012. Retrieved November 28, 2011.
  9. ^ "Lions RB Harris gets chance to shine in CFL Wesr Final". TSN.ca. November 17, 2011. Retrieved November 28, 2011.
  10. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 25, 2012. Retrieved December 7, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. ^ "Banks, McCallum and Harris honoured as Lions nearly sweep weekly CFL awards". Winnipeg Free Press (CP). November 22, 2011. Retrieved November 28, 2011.
  12. ^ a b "Harris completes journey from bleachers to Grey Cup glory". TSN.ca. November 28, 2011. Archived from the original on July 28, 2013. Retrieved November 28, 2011.
  13. ^ "Grey Cup-champion Lions, Harris agree to extension". TSN.ca. December 28, 2011. Retrieved December 29, 2011.
  14. ^ "Canadians Andrew Harris, Jon Cornish rush into CFL record books". Vancouver Sun. October 26, 2012. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
  15. ^ "Lions sign running back Harris to contract extension".
  16. ^ "Futures of Harris, Lulay the biggest off-season questions for Lions". TSN. November 16, 2015. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  17. ^ "Heading Home: Bombers land Winnipeg native Andrew Harris". February 9, 2016.
  18. ^ "Blue Bombers running back Andrew Harris eager to face former Lions teammates | nanaimonewsNOW". nanaimonewsnow.com. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
  19. ^ "Blue Bombers end Eskimos' perfect start". CBC Sports. August 18, 2017.
  20. ^ "CFL Stats".
  21. ^ "Harris joins the record book with 103rd catch". November 4, 2017.
  22. ^ "Bombers, Harris agree to two-year extension - Article - TSN". TSN. May 20, 2018. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
  23. ^ "Bombers Remain Undefeated with Win over Argonauts". CFL. July 13, 2019.
  24. ^ TSN ca Staff (August 26, 2019). "Bombers RB Andrew Harris suspended two games for violating drug policy - TSN.ca". TSN. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
  25. ^ "Harris becomes all-time Canadian rushing leader". October 25, 2019.
  26. ^ Rosen, Kayla (October 30, 2019). "Bombers' Andrew Harris snubbed in Player Awards nomination". Winnipeg. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
  27. ^ Wyman, Ted (October 30, 2019). "WYMAN: Why I did not vote for Bombers running back Andrew Harris for any CFL awards". National Post.
  28. ^ "CFOX".
  29. ^ a b Devin Heroux (November 25, 2019). "Drought over, pants on: Bombers deliver a Grey Cup win for the ages". CBC Sports.
  30. ^ Dan Ralph (November 23, 2019). "Andrew Harris, Bombers aren't worried about Grey Cup underdog status". CBC Sports.
  31. ^ "For the Grey: Bombers end cup drought with win over Ticats". cfl.ca. November 24, 2019.
  32. ^ "Staying in the 'Peg: Harris, Bombers agree to extension". Canadian Football League. January 15, 2021. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  33. ^ TSN ca Staff (October 22, 2021). "Andrew Harris knee injury Winnipeg Blue Bombers - TSN.ca". TSN. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
  34. ^ "Blue Bombers set up Grey Cup rematch with Tiger-Cats after West final victory over Roughriders". CBC Sports. December 5, 2021.
  35. ^ "Transactions – Football player trades and signings". Canadian Football League. Retrieved February 8, 2022.
  36. ^ "Harris agrees to join Argonauts". TSN. February 8, 2022.
  37. ^ "Andrew Harris surpasses 10,000 career rushing yards". Canadian Football League. July 24, 2022.
  38. ^ TSN ca Staff (August 16, 2022). "Argos' Harris (pec) expected out 4-6 weeks - TSN.ca". TSN. Retrieved August 16, 2022.
  39. ^ TSN ca Staff (August 17, 2022). "Argos RB Harris done for season due to pec muscle surgery - TSN.ca". TSN. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  40. ^ "Four-time Grey Cup champion Andrew Harris back in double blue". Toronto Argonauts. March 2, 2023.
  41. ^ "Harris hits another milestone, Argos get another win". Canadian Football League. July 29, 2023.
  42. ^ "Official 2024 Free Agent Tracker". Canadian Football League. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
  43. ^ "Andrew Harris joining VI Raiders as Head of Football". Vancouver Island Raiders. February 11, 2023.
  44. ^ a b "2024 announcements". Vancouver Island Raiders. January 24, 2024.
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Andrew Harris (Canadian football).
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Wally Buono Award
2009 		Succeeded by
Kleevens Jean-Louis
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