Vernon Adams Jr. and Trevor Harris aren’t on the same roster anymore but that didn’t make it any easier for Adams to watch his former teammate suffer a potentially season-ending injury this past week.
“We do want to send prayers up for Trevor Harris,” Adams told the media in B.C. “I was watching it live with one of my teammates and that was very tough. He’s one of the guys who mentored me, taught me a lot of things about the CFL game when we were in Montreal together.”
Harris will undergo surgery after suffering a tibial plateau fracture in a 33-31 loss to the Calgary Stampeders. Though the Riders haven’t officially ruled him out for the rest of the season, it is unlikely that he will see the field again in 2023.
Adams and Harris played together with the Montreal Alouettes for parts of two seasons, starting in 2021 after Adams suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. Harris was acquired via trade from the Edmonton Elks and started the final three games of the regular season as well as the East Semi-Final.
Both quarterbacks returned to the Als in 2022 with Adams as the starter, though Harris replaced him partway through the club’s second game of the year. Adams remained on the bench until the end of the summer when he was traded to the B.C. Lions following an injury to Nathan Rourke.
Mason Fine will start when the Riders visit Vancouver on Saturday, which will mark the young quarterback’s first start of the season. The third-year passer started two games late last year after the club was all-but eliminated from postseason contention, losing both to the Stampeders.
“He’s been in this league for a little bit, he had a few starts last year,” said Adams. “He’s just got to come in and do his thing — not this week, he can wait till next week to do his thing. Every quarterback’s just gotta come in and take what they give him.”
Adams expects Saskatchewan’s defence will be particularly motivated to play well with Harris out of the lineup and a relatively young quarterback in his place. B.C.’s offence isn’t an easy unit to contain as it currently ranks second league-wide in points per game (27.2) and net yardage per game (384.2).
“We know Saskatchewan is a great team, they’ve got a great defence no matter what’s going on over there,” said Adams. “(Jason) Shivers is a great defensive coordinator, a veteran in this league, so we’ve got to take what they give us. I’ve gotta get these playmakers the ball, get some more offence, some more numbers going with these guys and get some more excitement going.”
The Lions have opened the upper bowl for Saturday’s game due to high ticket demand. The contest is slated for 7:00 p.m. EDT on Saturday, July 22 at BC Place Stadium.
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