Just under two months after suffering a serious knee injury, Trevor Harris strode into Mosaic Stadium’s media room on Wednesday.
There wasn’t any evidence of a limp, even though surgery had been performed to repair a tibial plateau fracture one day after the Saskatchewan Roughriders played host to the Calgary Stampeders on July 15.
“We’re ahead of where we thought we would be at this point,” the 12th-year CFL quarterback told reporters.
“In terms of return-to-play, it’s a pretty lengthy rehab, but today I was able to jog over five miles an hour on the underwater treadmill, and I’m jogging on land.
“I did some backwards sled walks with 150 pounds and forward sled marches with 150 pounds. I’ve been doing single-leg squats and whatnot.
“I’m elated with where I’m at. There’s still a ways to go, but you can see that I’m over the hump of the tough part of this rehab, so there’s exciting things ahead, for sure.”
The popular question — when? — cannot yet be answered or projected.
“I’ve tried to circle dates and tried to think about when I could be back, but I think that has kind of taken away from just being in the now and just conquering one day at a time, so I honestly don’t know,” Harris said.
“I’ll meet with the surgeon on Sunday to kind of track my progress and then I think I’ll see him again within a week or so. From there, I think we’ll kind of be able to develop a timetable.”
That said, a partial and preliminary blueprint is in place.
“Within under two weeks now, we plan on doing some field work,” Harris continued. “I would say that’s probably the most encouraging thing. If we can get to that under the two-week mark, I think we’ll be on a good path.”
Harris was injured in the fourth quarter against Calgary while completing a 17-yard run. Stampeders defensive lineman Derek Wiggan, who was pursuing Harris, inadvertently rolled up on the veteran quarterback’s right leg while being knocked to the turf. Harris suffered a break in “four or five spots” on the outside of his right kneecap.
“Actually, my brother-in-law was almost 37 years old when he broke his tibial plateau when he was coaching,” Harris said. “A player ran to the sideline, ran into his knee, and he broke his tibial plateau.
“And then — true story, believe it or not — about four weeks after my injury, my parents took the dog in, because he wouldn’t eat and he was limping. They were thinking gout, or whatever. They did an X-ray and my dog broke his tibial plateau.
“Unbelievable, right?”
None of this was believable, not too long ago.
“I’d never even heard of a tibial plateau until 2017 and the only person I’d heard of who did that was (former NFL defensive lineman) J.J. Watt,” Harris said, “so the fact that we had three in our family was pretty crazy.
“But it was my sister’s husband, so it’s not some hereditary thing. Obviously, there was my dog, so it’s not like there’s a history of that in my family. I just had a 300-pound guy roll into my leg when it was stuck, and it was unfortunate.”
Yet, the perpetually positive Harris is able to look on the bright side.
“The doctors told me that I was lucky that I didn’t tear an ACL (knee ligament),” he said. “Because of the nature of the injury, usually your ACL goes with it, so I avoided all that.
“It’s a big credit to the training regimes that have been put together for me. I do a lot of the TB12 method. I work on the ARP machine that I’ve talked a lot about. That has been instrumental in my rehab and why I’ve been able to jump so fast from the time I’ve been cleared to walk to being able to jog within a week. A lot of that is because of the people at ARPneuro.
“Obviously, Greg Mayer and our training staff here have been absolutely phenomenal with helping me, along with Dr. (Jordan) Buchko and Dr. (James) Fraser and our medical staff here with the swiftness and how much they did for me in terms of how well they did the surgery.
“It has just been great. Obviously, it’s not ideal, but you always deal with what’s in front of you.”
Even if that includes impatience.
“I would say there was a point at four weeks where I was frustrated,” Harris said. “I was like, ‘I’m walking. I’m done with this,’ so when Greg left the room, I tried to walk, and I thought, ‘This feels fine. I can walk. I’m just going to start doing this myself.’
“The next day, it ballooned up, and it stayed swollen for about a week and a half. After that week and a half, the swelling went down as I started to move it. There were movements and medicine a lot of times and, through that, the swelling started going away.
“From there, it has just been taking off, and it hasn’t really slowed down. It’s just one day at a time, but every day we’re making some pretty big leaps, which is awesome.”
A long-standing commitment to conditioning has served him well along the way.
“When I got out of surgery and before Dr. Buchko sent me home, he said, ‘Trevor, I just want to warn you. Physically, you’re in good shape. You’re going to recover from this well. You’re going to do well. But mentally, this is a taxing process. If you go through times when you’re doubting or you’re struggling or whatever it may be, know that it’s normal and it’s OK,’ ” Harris said.
“I’ve tried to make it a point to never have a bad day — to never let a bad moment turn into a bad day. Never let those bad moments stretch.”
Instead, focus on the great moments ahead — such as a much-anticipated return to lineup.
“It’s probably going to be emotional — because initially when I got hurt, I didn’t know if I’d ever play again,” Harris said. “If it’s this year or next year or whenever it may be, I look forward to that.
“Honestly, I haven’t really thought about it, just because I’m conquering today and then I’ll conquer tomorrow. But I know that when I hear ‘Bring ’Em Out’ and I have the helmet on, it’s going to hit a little different.”
