The Winnipeg Blue Bombers received shocking news on Thursday afternoon with Edmonton Elks’ quarterback Trevor Harris being ruled out of Saturday’s game with a neck injury.
The veteran passer had started all five of Edmonton’s games this season, leading the club to a 2-3 record. Blue Bombers’ defensive back Alden Darby doesn’t care that Harris will miss the contest, indicating that his team will prepare the same way regardless of who is under centre for Edmonton.
“They’re still a well-coached team, they still have great athletes on the offensive side of the ball. The other quarterback’s been there since training camp, so they know the same system, the same things,” said Darby.
“We still want to go out there and play ball no matter who lines up. Whoever lines up, we’re going to play ball as it if was Trevor Harris. We don’t care.”
Edmonton will reportedly start Taylor Cornelius, who most recently played for the Tampa Bay Vipers of the XFL. Head coach Mike O’Shea knows very little about the young quarterback given that he’s brand new to the CFL and has yet to take his first career snap.
“The most so far I know about him is he was in the XFL with (Elks head coach) Jaime (Elizondo). That’s about it,” said O’Shea.
“Do I think it’s going to change a lot? No. Our coaching staff and players will obviously do the work required to know what they can know about whoever might line-up.”
Cornelius is a pocket passer with an imposing frame at six-foot-five and 232 pounds. He was a starter for just one season in college, throwing for 3,978 yards, 32 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions as a senior at Oklahoma State University.
“Our guys are prepared to play our system and execute our plays against an Elks system that shows up through their first bunch of games,” said O’Shea. “We imagine like in any system that the next guy up is quite prepared to run it and they expect him — whoever gets in there — to help them win a football game by executing their system.”
Cornerback Mike Jones doesn’t expect Winnipeg’s defence to make any large changes with Harris out of the lineup.
“I don’t know if it’ll make it a lot easier but we’re there to play regardless of if it was Trevor Harris or the backup. I wouldn’t say the scheme is going to change, we just gotta be there when asked to be,” said cornerback Mike Jones.
“I just heard about him in the last week, so I guess I gotta do my research now. We all gotta do our research, but like I said we’re there to play.”
The Blue Bombers visit the Edmonton Elks on Saturday, Sept. 18 with kickoff slated for 9:45 p.m. ET.
