HALIFAX — Andrew Harris became the fifth all-time leader in CFL rushing yards and the Toronto Argonauts hit a milestone they haven’t seen in 87 years on Saturday.
Great accomplishment for the greatest Canadian running back in CFL history - Andrew “Husky” Harris. Won’t catch Mike Pringle or George Reed, the 2 best American/overall RB in CFL history, nor Damon Allen, the wild-legged QB who ran like a gazelle.
Now that he’s surpassed childhood hero Charles ‘Blink’ Roberts, his next target is legendary Eskimo Johnny Bright. Harris is only 450/500 yds behind Bright. Assuming A.J. Oullette (Argos #1 RB) doesn’t get hurt, the chances of Harris gets 500 more yds this season are slim. Very slim!
But possible - if he averages 45+ yds/game for Argos remaining 11 games of season.
My semi-educated guess is Harris plays in 9 of Argos remaining 11 games - he’s 36 and somewhat injury prone. That means he’ll need over 55 yds per game average to surpass Bright. Unlikely as the B-back.
Means he’ll have to play another CFL year at 37 which could truly be amazing. Unlikely - but its Andrew Harris - don’t rule this guy out.
Congratulations Andrew. Good old Manitoban. Well, not “old”.
“His chances are slim” is just the fuel Andrew Harris needs to punch second gear and accelerate into 4th place past Johnny Bright. He’ll need every aging auto part in his body intact for the rest of this season to get past the finish line. No more pit stops for him. It’s ‘checkered flag or bust’ time.
(I’m running out of car metaphors)
I like giving Harris fuel to burn.
However, keep in mind Johnny Bright, a guy drafted 5th overall in 1952’s NFL draft played only 12 years in the CFL - and a couple of those years he was primarily used as a linebacker (first 2 yrs in Edmonton) before they saw the brilliance of his running. So, in essence only 10 years as a starting running back in the CFL. Also, keep in mind during the 50s and early 60s CFL seasons were only 12 games.
Not the 18 games Harris has been used to over his also incredible career.
Just some food for thought as Harris creeps closer to Johnny Bright.
36 is pretty old for a running back - in any league. Frank Gore was the last NFL RB to make it to 35 before the wheels fell off.
Most athletes have their best injury free years between 21 & 28. The compounding effect of continued play and accumulated pounding take their toll after about 29.
Bo-Levi was a virtual invulnerable Superman when he toiled with Calgary. Now, he’s an injury waiting to happen - a veritable Eddy Haskell of the CFL.
I have to wonder what Normie Kwong’s stats would be if he had played in this day & age.
Awesome Andrew. I wonder what Roberts could have done on 'roids?
Maybe he was, the CFL didn’t test players until recently.
I would think that there is a lot of roid use by CFL players, especially the O-linemen. They just risk they don’t get tested.
I say let players take whatever they want, it’s their body.
“maybe” is not a proof word.
Kwong was more than just the ‘China Clipper’ (his nickname from almost Day 1 due to his heritage). In today’s day 'n age Kwong would have been at least equal to or greater than Awesome Harris.
Notwithstanding Johnny Bright, the most glaring exclusion from the Top 10 is the player legendary Bud Grant called the great running back he’d ever seen - NFL or CFL - - - and that was ‘The Lincoln Locomotive’ Leo Lewis.
Lewis played in the 12 game era and was super versatile - he caught a ton of balls, was almost always on kick returns until his last couple years, did a bit of punt returns, threw a s-load of passes out of the Wild Wing formation. Harris also caught a lot of passes in BC & Winnipeg. Lewis basically played the equivalent of 7 seasons and amassed some very nice statistics, including 3 Grey Cup rings.
Mike Pringle was a veritable hybrid of speed, power, moves & will. He played behind some excellent o-lines with decent CFL QBs. (Calvillo, etc.) and was fortunate to rarely suffer minor to moderate injuries. His #1 yardage spot is well earned.
George Reed would easily surpass Pringle if he had played during the current era. Reed was classified as a fullback, he goes back that far. George was listed as 5’11 or 6’0" and 230 lbs. but prolly closer to 6 feet and maybe even 235/240.
He was truly built like a fullback but few backs in CFL history hit the hole like Reed - a true & legendary CFL monster. Also caught a ton of balls angling off blocking assignments into the flat and was hell on wheels to tackle. Faster than any d-lineman of his era and 90% of linebackers, Reed advanced too quickly to the 3rd level where 5’10", 175 lb. DBs were absolutely terrified of having to go one on one with this legendary monster.
Give Reed 18 games a year, even 16 and he’d have surpassed Pringle with little to no problem!
We have no way to know that.
These days with better coaching, training, conditioning I think athletes are much faster. You only have to look at Olympic runners, the 10 seconds for the 100m was thought to be unachievable until 1968, but 150 runners alone since 2000
That’s not a terrible idea. For sure it’s the fairest solution as it’s the only way we’ll know that everyone is on the same playing field.
Also avoided would be the glaring hypocrisy of cheaters like Carl Lewis calling out Ben Johnson just because he didn’t get caught.
No one knows what percentage of athletes try to enhance their performance via banned substances and even insiders would at best be making an educated guess. I would expect it is significant because the cheating technology is always 5-10 years ahead of the detecting technology. Lance Armstrong was only caught many years later when a 10 year or so old sample was tested using updated technology.
I’m also not sure I see the difference between some banned substances and some of the “legal” but untested and unknown vitamin/eye of newt combos some of these athletes chug down.
Why should we care what a few select athletes put in their bodies even if it is known to be harmful? The alcohol and cigarettes that many in the general population consume is far worse. Why are we regulating drugs in sports? Because it’s a competition? Well if I’m going up against someone for a job interview who has just taken a snort or some adderrall then I am disadvantaged too. And we should all know by now that trying to regulate or ban a person’s consumption of drugs is fools game.
Good on Toronto and good on Andrew Harris.
As for Regina, a bit of belated karma on the QB side, although purely due to bad luck.