It's 'Yo, Canada' for Lions candidate Harris

June 15, 2009

Author: Mike Beamish, Vancouver Sun

A jolting revelation broke like a thunderclap after watching Andrew Harris in training camp for the past week.

Consider, Lions coach Wally Buono, the possibilities of an all-Canadian backfield.

No, Sean Millington isn't coming out of retirement, again. But there is a chance that tailback Jamall Lee, the Lions' first pick in the 2009 college draft, will return to Canada at some point after his camps with the National Football League's Carolina Panthers.

That thought has also crossed the mind of Harris, a 22-year-old running back from Winnipeg in the midst of his second camp with the Lions. If Lee becomes B.C.'s starting tailback, he'll need a backup of the same nationality to protect the ratio.

"We [Canadians] can play ball too, right?" says Harris. "A lot of Americans come up here and they're shell-shocked, because it's such a different game. Being a Canadian can play into your favour in most situations."

Harris has broached the northern backfield idea with Lee, a two-time CIS rushing champion from Bishop's, via Facebook.

"I told him, 'You've gotta come back to make an All-Canadian backfield,' " Harris says. "That would be pretty cool. But I'm still awhile away from that possibility. I just got to take it day by day so I can get there."

Harris already has lasted longer in the 2009 camp than he did a year ago and he figures to be here awhile yet. Coach Buono won't be taking him to Calgary Wednesday, for the Lions' first pre-season game, but hopes to give him some work June 23, in another non-counter at BC Place.

"He's young, but he's in the mix," Buono says of Harris. "We'll get him on some [special] teams and see how he handles all of that. I don't want to jump too far ahead of myself, but he has done very well. I'd like to see him in a live game. From there, we'd have to make a decision."

Harris's aspiration is to join the vanguard of Canadians turning back the strong-running tide of recent CFL history. Jesse Lumsden and Calvin McCarty in Edmonton, Jon Cornish in Calgary, Stu Foord in Saskatchewan and Jeff Johnson in Toronto are demanding their fundamental right to play running back in a league dominated by imports.

"You can never have too many options," Buono says. "And players like Jamall Harris can give you options."

Nobody is disputing the fact that Stefan Logan is the Lions' presumptive feature back if or when he returns from the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers. Lee, if he does show up in B.C., will probably be used as a slotback at first. Buono won't start a rookie Canadian tailback, despite his promise.

"I don't know, myself, if I would put that kind of pressure on him early," Buono concedes.

Still, sometime in the future, it could be a possibility. Harris, who holds the all-time Canadian junior football touchdown and scoring records, has another year of junior eligibility remaining. He could play three more seasons at a Canadian university before his time is used up. Or he could take the NCAA route. His CFL draft year is still two years away - 2011 - and Buono could determine that he's too good a prospect to lose and sign him for the developmental squad. Despite his Manitoba roots, Harris plays for the Vancouver Island Raiders and is in Abbotsford as an invited territorial exemption.

Emmanuel Marc of Delaware State, one of the candidates to replace Logan as the feature back, said he went online and gathered video and information on all the import competition he would face at Lions camp. Harris was the one exception. He'd never heard of him. Now Marc knows who he is.

"Andrew is one of the hardest workers," he says. "He's literally the first guy in the training room every morning. After practice, he's in the weight room. Then he goes right back for treatment. He's on time. He pays attention to detail. I'm really impressed with him. He's a genuine guy. He's opened his arms to all us. And he's doing fine out here."

Last November, Harris had 411 all-purpose yards in a national junior semifinal playoff game against the mighty Saskatoon Hilltops. In the national final, against the Burlington Braves, it was another case of "Here I come. See if you can stop me." Through rain and mud, he rushed for 410 yards and four touchdowns as the Islanders won 35-8. One would assume he has nothing more to prove at that level.

Indeed, he has been pointed toward the CFL since his high school days in the River Heights neighbourhood of Winnipeg. Charles Roberts, a three-time rushing champion with the Blue Bombers, used to live a block away.

"I used to bug him. 'I'll see you in a couple of years in the CFL,' " Harris says.

Alas, Roberts' career appears over following an Achilles tear last season with the Lions. But Harris is in place to ponder something not frequently noticeable in the modern CFL age: progress for Canadian running backs.