The 2023 Saskatchewan Roughriders, who may already own a professional football record for utterances of “next man up,” are now proceeding in the absence of their most prominent player.
A serious knee injury to Trevor Harris, who was hurt in the fourth quarter of last weekend’s game against the visiting Calgary Stampeders, will sideline the 37-year-old quarterback for several weeks — and perhaps the duration of the season.
Next man up: Mason Fine, who is to start on Saturday against the host B.C. Lions.
Although the injury to Harris is devastating, considering his excellence as a player and a person, the Roughriders can comfortably fill the starting quarterback’s spot with someone who is in his third CFL season.
So the transition, while jarring due to the nature and severity of the injury to Harris, is seamless from one perspective.
The process hasn’t always been that orderly or free of quirkiness.
Three times in franchise history, the Roughriders have had to address a quarterbacking issue of some description by elevating a coach to the active roster.
In fact, one of those erstwhile coach-quarterbacks was at Mosaic Stadium on Saturday, when Harris suffered a tibial plateau fracture of his right knee.
John Hufnagel attended the game in his capacity as the Stampeders’ president and football consultant — nearly 36 years after his injury-shortened farewell appearance as a CFL player.
In late August of 1987, the Roughriders were squeezing the tube at quarterback as they prepared for a home game against Edmonton.
The starting quarterback, Tom Burgess, was ready to go. Rookie pivot Jeff Bentrim was also healthy, but he was nonetheless placed on the reserve list so that Head Coach John Gregory could promote a member of his staff — Hufnagel — to active duty.
The 35-year-old Hufnagel, who was then coaching the Roughriders’ quarterbacks and receivers, took over behind centre late in the first quarter after Burgess struggled out of the gate.
To that point, Hufnagel’s throwing in 1987 had been limited to practice sessions and informal workouts. He had not participated in training camp, let alone a pre-season game.
Nonetheless, he was able to complete 20 of 29 passes for 229 yards, including an eight-yard TD pass to Ray Elgaard, before leaving the game midway through the fourth quarter due to an Achilles tendon injury.
Elgaard, who caught Hufnagel’s 127th and final CFL touchdown pass, also happened to be at Saturday’s game.
(Also from the it’s-a-small-world department: Hufnagel and Elgaard had connected for the Hall of Fame slotback’s first of 78 career TD receptions, on July 16, 1983 against the visiting Hamilton Tiger-Cats.)
Hufnagel had just celebrated his second birthday when Frank Filchock, then in his first of five seasons as the Roughriders’ Head Coach, was pressed into service at quarterback.
Unimaginably now, the Roughriders were playing a home game on Monday — only two days after facing Edmonton at Taylor Field.
On a Saturday afternoon, franchise quarterback Glenn Dobbs suffered a first-quarter leg injury that ultimately rendered him unavailable for a Monday clash with Calgary.
Dobbs was reflexively replaced by the 37-year-old Filchock, who had extensive experience as a quarterback in the NFL and with Edmonton, for the remainder of the Oct. 3 game. He helped Saskatchewan post a 19-13 victory that snapped Edmonton’s winning streak at eight games.
Filchock then started against Calgary, going the distance in a 9-8 Stampeders win.
It was initially anticipated that Dobbs would return in time for a two-game set against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. No such luck … and no worries!
With Filchock behind centre, the Roughriders won 18-13 in Winnipeg on Oct. 10 before edging the Bombers 14-13 two days later at Taylor Field.
Dobbs returned on Oct. 17 in Calgary, only to suffer yet another knee injury. In came Filchock, again, and he helped Saskatchewan win 24-18.
He wasn’t done there.
With Filchock operating the offence, the Roughriders won their next two games before concluding the regular season with a tie that secured second place in the West.
Dobbs returned to the field for a two-game, total-points semi-final against Winnipeg, which won 43-5 at home before losing 18-17 in Regina.
Filchock took some snaps in the opener, in relief of a struggling Dobbs. The two Roughriders quarterbacks became far too familiar with Bombers defensive back Bud Grant, who set an enduring pro football record for interceptions in a game (five).
Post-1953, Filchock was exclusively a coach — the Roughriders’ full-time chief strategist from 1954 to 1957.
By then, Grant was the Blue Bombers’ head coach, and someone who would play an influential role in the Roughriders’ use of another head coach as an emergency starting quarterback.
Late in the 1959 season, the Roughriders were in a jam.
After releasing quarterback Bob Brodhead, the Roughriders encountered a rash of injuries that forced them to use FOUR different players at quarterback during a 45-6 loss to the visiting B.C. Lions on Oct. 19, 1959.
Don Allard, the starter, sustained a shoulder separation early in the game.
Ron Adam, the next man up, was hampered by an ankle injury that had been bothering him for two months.
Not long after stepping in for Adam, rookie Jack Urness suffered what the Regina Leader-Post described as “a nasty gash on the leg” and was soon rushed to the hospital.
In came Jack Hill — a halfback — whose two pass attempts were intercepted.
Saskatchewan finished the game with three first downs, zero completions (in 13 attempts), a scant 43 yards of offence, and not a single healthy quarterback.
But their payroll did include newly installed Head Coach Frank Tripucka, who had been a prolific passer for Saskatchewan for a considerable portion of the 1950s.
The problem: Tripucka had been reacquired from the Ottawa Rough Riders — strictly as a coach — on Oct. 1, 1953, one day after the Roughriders had dismissed George Terlep.
Per the rules of the day, American players were not allowed to join a team’s roster beyond Sept. 30.
With only one victory to their credit, the Roughriders contacted Commissioner Sydney Halter to seek permission to dress Tripucka for the final two regular-season games.
Such a plan required the approval of the opposing teams — Edmonton (which was to visit Taylor Field on Oct. 24, 1959) and Winnipeg (the host team for an Oct. 26 contest).
“We agreed on allowing Tripucka to play,” Edmonton Head Coach Eagle Keys told the L-P. “This being what you might call a nothing game, we gave our consent because we want to see the Riders make a game of it. Any team would be seriously handicapped if it didn’t have a top-notch quarterback to call upon.”
Adam started at quarterback before Tripucka took over in the second quarter. Edmonton’s 20-19 victory was secured after Tripucka threw an interception in the final minute.
Afterward, Tripucka quipped: “Who should take the blame — the coach or the quarterback?”
One game remained.
With Grant providing permission for Tripucka to play, a la Keys, the 31-year-old passer went 17-for-26 for 206 yards. Included was a nine-yard touchdown pass to Ferd Burket, who also scored four times along the ground.
Burket’s five TDs remain a Roughriders single-game standard.
The individual stats counted, which was also of considerable benefit to Winnipeg’s Ernie Pitts. His five touchdown receptions endure as a league record.
However, the outcome — Saskatchewan 37, Winnipeg 30 — did not stand. Winnipeg was awarded the victory by forfeit, in adherence to the ground rules that had been set before the game.
Beyond that, the Roughriders have faced only one quarterback-availability issue that, by today’s standards, would be regarded as unconventional.
On Oct. 2, 1966, Ron Lancaster suffered an ankle injury in the second quarter against the visitors from Winnipeg.
Georgia-born starting safety Bruce Bennett, who had been a star quarterback at Valdosta High School, took over for Lancaster. Bennett even scored a touchdown, on a one-yard run, as Saskatchewan salvaged an 11-11 tie.
Bennett then started six days later as the Roughriders fell 35-18 to Calgary at Taylor Field. He went 7-for-11 for 29 yards and one TD.
Since then, the process has been far simpler. If the starting pivot is injured, another quarterback takes over.
We are far past the days when the head coach is the oft-mentioned next man up — although, come to think of it, Craig Dickenson did play quarterback until Grade 10 …
“Ohhhh, no,” Dickenson emphasized. “It won’t be me.”
