Passing prowess and professionalism: An appreciation of Trevor Harris and Bo Levi Mitchell
HAMILTON — Shawn Bane Jr.’s path to prominence, a route that took him from Calgary to Saskatchewan, has enabled him to develop the deepest appreciation for two premier passers.
Bo Levi Mitchell was the quarterback when Bane Jr., as a newcomer with the Calgary Stampeders, caught his first CFL touchdown pass — a 24-yarder against the visiting Saskatchewan Roughriders on Oct. 2, 2021.
His three most-recent majors, all of which helped the Roughriders defeat the host Edmonton Elks 29-21 on June 8, resulted from throws by Trevor Harris.
Next on the agenda for Harris and the Roughriders is Sunday’s game against the Mitchell-led Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Tim Hortons Field (5 p.m., TSN, CKRM).
“Both of them have done so much for the league,” Bane Jr. said on Saturday. “It’s an honour to catch a touchdown pass from both of them.
“It’s crazy, because me and Trev didn’t get any touchdowns last year.”
Bane Jr. registered his first touchdown as a Roughrider in the team’s seventh game of 2023 — a season in which he caught 93 passes for 1,104 yards. Harris had suffered a season-ending knee injury late in the Roughriders’ fifth game.
Last weekend, Harris returned to regular-season action with a flourish, completing 22 of 31 passes for 305 yards while collaborating with Bane Jr. on the aforementioned touchdown trifecta.
The scoring strikes covered 40, 33 and 27 yards. On the 33-yarder, Harris released the ball in 1.5 seconds — thereby neutralizing an all-out Elks blitz — and found Bane Jr. wide open down the right sideline.
“It wasn’t even really one of our reads,” Harris said earlier this week. “I just saw the corner look inside. I was like, ‘If he looks inside and shows me his eyes, I’m throwing it over his head.’ ”
The Roughriders’ No. 7 processed all that information and made the decision in a heartbeat, at a time when seven Elks players were striving to slam him to the turf.
“It makes no sense,” Bane Jr. said with a laugh. “It’s hard for me to process information that fast, so for him to do it and throw that, it’s just insane.
“I don’t get it. I don’t get it. I don’t get it. I don’t understand it. Like … how?
“I saw (the cornerback) pinch a little bit, but I definitely didn’t think that ball was coming to me. I thought it was Kian Schaffer-Baker’s ball all day.
“But Trev let that thing go, and I thought, ‘OK.’ ”
From the Elks’ perspective, it was more like “Oh no …”
Bane Jr. envisioned days like last Saturday from the moment he became a Roughrider on Feb. 14, 2023.
“When I first signed last year, Trev called me,” the Northwest Missouri State game-breaker said. “He said, ‘I’m so excited that you’re coming here. I watched your college highlights. We’re definitely going to do some of the same things and utilize you that way.’
“The way he approaches all of his preparation, he doesn’t skip anything — from all the details about the depth of my route to how I should turn my shoulders to make the DB turn this way and then cut across his face.
“He really doesn’t neglect any of the details. He’s a pro’s pro.”
That is also the assessment of the Roughriders’ first-year head coach.
“We said, from the very first meeting, that if you want to know what a professional looks like, follow 7,” Corey Mace said.
“From that standpoint, with the intangibles, he does everything you want as far as leading on and off the field. He shows what it looks like to be a great husband and a great father. What he brings on the field, it’s obvious. I think everybody sees that.”
Just look at the numbers.
Harris sports the best career completion percentage (70.6) in CFL history.
He needs just one more TD pass, his 164th, to tie Darian Durant for 20th on the CFL’s all-time list.
With 2,511 completions, Harris ranks 16th and is one spot behind Mitchell (2,601).
Yardage-wise, well, it should be interesting on Sunday.
Harris, whose 30,189 yards place him 19th all-time, is poised to pass Tom Burgess (30,308) and Sam Etcheverry (30,381). Durant (31,740) isn’t far off.
“I honestly didn’t know that,” Harris said. “Honestly, I don’t know how many yards I need for what.
“To me, it’s just about making sure that I’m putting my team in position to win football games. If I’m doing that, then I feel like I’m worthy of continuing to be under centre.”
Sunday’s worthy opponent boasts a quarterback who, with 33,872 yards, is one spot above Durant on the league’s career list.
Mitchell also has 195 touchdown passes — three fewer than 13th-ranked Kent Austin.
“Bo has had a tremendous career,” Harris said on Saturday. “To me, he’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer. What I’ve done is not even close to matching what he’s done in his career.
“But to tell you that I’ve thought about Bo Levi once this week, that would be a lie. A couple of people have asked me about him today, but it’s the first I’ve actually even thought about it.
“If Bo and I are playing against each other, it means that he’s playing defence or I’m playing defence, and then our teams are in bad shape.
“To me, it’s just about us going out and executing against Hamilton’s defence, but I couldn’t have more respect for people like Bo and Zach (Collaros of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers).
“They have done so much in this league and really advanced our league and have been kind of the two prominent guys from my quarterback era.”
Harris was then asked if there could be an indirect form of competition between himself and Mitchell — in that if Hamilton’s offence scores, say, 30 points, it is incumbent upon Harris and his colleagues to produce 31 or more.
“To me, it’s just about doing what’s needed to win, whether it’s 10-9 or 42-40,” Harris replied.
“Tomorrow, I’m prepared to go out there and do whatever needs to be done and to put my body on the line to go get this win.
“That’s just what it’s about for me. If they put up that many points, then we’ll do our best to make sure we put up at least one more than them.”
Like Bane Jr., Mace has an advanced understanding of Harris and Mitchell.
When Mitchell broke into the CFL, Mace was in his third season with the Stampeders. In fact, it was Mace — a Calgary defensive tackle from 2010 to 2015 — who caught Mitchell’s first CFL touchdown pass, on a short-yardage play in 2012.
Mace became the Stampeders’ defensive line coach in 2016 and remained a colleague of Mitchell’s until becoming the Toronto Argonauts’ defensive co-ordinator in 2022.
As one who doubles as the Roughriders’ defensive co-ordinator, Mace is now accustomed to preparing to face Mitchell, just like the priority was once to neutralize a Harris-led offence.
“Both of them are extremely competitive,” Mace said. “They both clock the extra hours and are extremely intelligent.
“They go about it a little bit differently in how they play, but both have been really successful in their careers. There’s definitely more than one way to skin it and these guys have been proof of that.
“The one thing you can always appreciate about guys who have played this long and have had this much success is the things that they do to achieve what they have. It’s rarely just coming to work when the team meeting starts and leaving when practice is over.
“So it has been nice to see both of those guys operate.”
Mace would like to see Sunday’s starting quarterbacks eventually become fixtures at Tim Hortons Field. Canada’s football shrine is based at the same facility where the Roughriders and Tiger-Cats will square off to complete Week 2 of the 2024 CFL season.
“We’re looking for it to be a tough, physical game,” the Roughriders’ field boss said. “They’re led by a Hall of Fame quarterback and so are we, in my opinion, so it should be a good one.”
