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![\"MIKAELA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/3732040_web1_251112-Riders-practice-0415.jpg\")
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MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
Riders QB Trevor Harris (above) broke into the CFL in 2012 with Bombers QB Zach Collaros.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he was ready to go home. He was like \u2018I\u2019m done, I\u2019m ready to get out of here.\u2019 And here he is all this time later. I thought he\u2019d get into coaching a little bit sooner, but he\u2019s really turned himself into a first ballot hall-of-famer. He\u2019s been absolutely incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have benefited the most from Collaros, now 37, sticking with it. He led the Blue and Gold to the previous five Grey Cups winning two, and now Harris, 39, is in the big game on Sunday as the starting pivot for the Saskatchewan Roughriders who are taking on the Montreal Alouettes in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n
Harris won two titles as a backup, but this will be his first opportunity to claim one as a starter.<\/p>\n
\u201cZach\u2019s been in five of these, it\u2019s our turn,\u201d said Harris with a smile. \u201cHe\u2019s had quite a run, and if he wants to continue to do it, he\u2019ll continue to do it, too, because he\u2019s a really good football player and any time a team has Zach as a quarterback, they\u2019re gonna have a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n
You can\u2019t play for this many years without making some changes, though. Harris and Collaros used to warm up by playing a one-on-one game of basketball, but now in their late 30s, it\u2019s a much different ball game.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we have to stretch,\u201d said Harris.<\/p>\n
RIDERS ON O\u2019SHEA <\/p>\n
Mike O\u2019Shea watch is officially on.<\/p>\n
The Bombers head coach was spotted at Pearson International Airport on Wednesday boarding a flight back to Winnipeg.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Shea, who is not under contract for next season and hails from North Bay, Ont., was in Toronto to speak to Argonauts brass about their head coaching vacancy.<\/p>\n
Riders general manager Jeremy O\u2019Day, who was teammates with O\u2019Shea for two seasons in Toronto (1997-98) back in their playing days, was asked at Wednesday\u2019s media day what it would mean for Winnipeg if their leader agreed to take the Argos gig.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the outside looking in, you\u2019d be losing a coach that has a great deal of respect from all the players. The players will run through a wall from him,\u201d said O\u2019Day.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve stayed loyal to him for a very long time. I can understand why, he\u2019s a leader of men and I have a ton of respect for Mike O\u2019Shea. But yeah, it would be change, and that\u2019s what happens when you make a change at the head coaching spot. How much would that affect them? It\u2019s hard to tell. Everyone has their own situation, but anytime you lose your leader, it\u2019s going to be difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n
Riders right tackle Jermarcus Hardrick has spoken candidly over the years about how close he was with O\u2019Shea when he played for him in Winnipeg from 2016-23.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a big deal. O\u2019Shea is a leader of men. And there was no grey area when we were in there. Very black and white,\u201d said Hardrick.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\tThe Warm-Up<\/p>\n
Winnipeg Jets Game Days<\/p>\n
On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop.<\/p>\n
\t\t\tSign up for The Warm-Up<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t \u201cExamples like once we were in in the morning the doors are locked. You\u2019re either in or you\u2019re out. Everything was like that. If we\u2019d have a team dinner or Thanksgiving, he didn\u2019t ask who was all coming. There was no sign-up sheet. He leaves the meeting, \u2018We have team dinner at 3:30. See you guys there.\u2019 It just took all the thinking out of it. We knew what we were doing. He was a leader of men. Great guy. Told you the truth. Was hard on us. But he always told us he loved us. It was amazing, man.\u201d<\/p>\n Should the Bombers be worried?<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say worried \u2018cause I don\u2019t want to make headlines,\u201d said Hardrick.<\/p>\n \u201cBut O\u2019Shea was a good coach, great man. Should be grateful to have him. Anybody would be.\u201d<\/p>\n taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Taylor Allen Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree\/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Taylor produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Reporter
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