SASKATOON \u2014 In an academic setting, Rolan Milligan Jr. and Trevor Harris are conducting PhD-level classes in professional football.<\/p>\n
Harris, at training camp to begin his fourth season as the Saskatchewan Roughriders\u2019 starting quarterback, is the reigning Grey Cup MVP. Milligan, a sixth-year Roughrider, has been an All-CFL defensive halfback each of the past two seasons.<\/p>\n
Two of the very best at their respective positions routinely go head-to-head during 12-on-12 drills at Griffiths Stadium, on the University of Saskatchewan campus, and demonstrate how it is done in terms of performance and preparation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great for us, because it prepares us for the season,\u201d Milligan Jr., wearing his trademark No. 0, said during Coors Light Training Camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cBetween me and (cornerback) Marcus Sayles, we talk to Trevor every day about what he\u2019s thinking, what we\u2019re thinking, how he\u2019s trying to attack us, and how we\u2019re trying to counter-attack.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know each other so well, so being able to play against each other\u2019s tendencies and do something that\u2019s a little bit different to throw each other off prepares us for a lot.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrevor is one of one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two years ago, Milligan was three in one.<\/p>\n
He was named the Roughriders\u2019 Most Outstanding Player, Most Outstanding Defensive Player and Most Outstanding Special Teams Player in 2024. On top of that, he was recognized as the league\u2019s top defensive player.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a few quarterbacks who are looking the other way,\u201d Head Coach Corey Mace said. \u201cThey\u2019re not even going to deal with (Milligan Jr.).<\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing for Ro in situations like that is to stay dialled in, because when that opportunity comes, he\u2019s going to make the best of it. That\u2019s just who he has been.<\/p>\n
\u201cLove the guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
On top of that, the respect is boundless.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a guy people seem to gravitate to fairly quickly, just in his order of operation,\u201d Mace said. \u201cHe\u2019s very similar to Trevor from that standpoint, on the defensive side of the ball. And his reputation travels quickly. A lot of rookies said on the first day, \u2018Zero is that guy.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are correct.\u201d<\/p>\n
Agent Zero, as he is known, has made the most spectacular play to this point in the Roughriders\u2019 2026 training camp.<\/p>\n
On Monday, he made a leaping one-handed interception of a deep pass by Harris \u2014 a throw that was seemingly destined to be a completion until No. 0 intervened.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce I saw the ball in the air, I just had to make sure I tracked it,\u201d Milligan Jr. said. \u201cI didn\u2019t know if I was going to make it there, so I just put the hand out and it kind of just stuck.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the crowd roared.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo get the opportunity to go make a play is huge and it\u2019s always fun,\u201d Milligan Jr. said. \u201cIt just shows how much work I\u2019ll put in and how much work my teammates will put in. Not everybody gets to see that work go live.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the case of the one-handed pick, the audience was limited to a few hundred spectators. The play would have gone viral on social media. It would have been oft-replayed during a televised game.<\/p>\n
\u201cRolan Milligan is good at football,\u201d Mace said, using understatement for comedic effort, after the Monday practice.<\/p>\n
Despite already being one of the very best, Milligan Jr. seizes every opportunity to get better.<\/p>\n
When you examine his resume, there doesn\u2019t seem to be much room for improvement. Honestly, what else could he do?<\/p>\n
Such a mindset is foreign to Milligan Jr., who is constantly fine-tuning.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt still has to be on point,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not the only good player in the CFL. There\u2019s a lot of good players who I get to play against every week. I know they\u2019re honing their skills and doing the same stuff that I\u2019m doing to prepare for the season. I\u2019ve got to make sure everything is on point the way it\u2019s supposed to be, because that\u2019s how they\u2019re going to be when it\u2019s time to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hence the importance of head-to-head matchups with Harris.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt helps a lot,\u201d Milligan Jr. said. \u201cTrevor is able to do a lot of things that some quarterbacks can\u2019t do. Being able to see that early on, once we get into the games, if quarterbacks aren\u2019t being as detailed as he is in his reads, his footwork and his operation, it just makes it easier for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
But it takes a lot of hard work to make it look easy. Most of it takes place outside the public eye.<\/p>\n
There are times when Harris and Milligan Jr. join each other at lunch or dinner, when conversations can include \u2014 but are not restricted to \u2014 the intricacies of the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not always football,\u201d said Milligan Jr. \u2014 like Harris, a father of four. \u201cSometimes we\u2019re talking about the family dynamic, just checking on each other\u2019s kids and our wives and seeing how everything is going outside of football. We always have time to have those conversations about football, but we\u2019re just checking on each other as a person and on each other\u2019s well-being.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut when we do have those conversations about football, it\u2019s very intense stuff and very detail-oriented, because the details matter. The more I can be detailed with what I\u2019m doing, the more I can help our team.<\/p>\n
\u201cVice versa with him. The more he\u2019s detailed as a quarterback while running our offence, the better our offence is going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Milligan Jr. dives into the details, you can tell he is entirely in his element \u2014 4,000 kilometres removed from his home base of Lake Wales, Fla.<\/p>\n
The rigours and regimentation of training camp aren\u2019t for everyone. Decades after boot camp-style, twice-daily practices on fields of dirt or mud, the conditions are much better for players of this era, but the days can still be long.<\/p>\n
So what does Agent Zero do? He makes the most out of every minute, on the practice field and in meetings.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love being around football,\u201d Milligan Jr., 31, said with a smile. \u201cMy wife will tell you, because she knows I love playing football. I love getting this month to completely focus on that and be around my teammates. Getting that camaraderie going again is huge for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always loved this. Just getting the opportunity is always a big thing for me. I\u2019ll never take it for granted. I always make sure that I am where my feet are at.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether it\u2019s a two-a-days in the mud, like you said, or whether it\u2019s out here in Saskatoon, I\u2019m grateful for the opportunity \u2026 always.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SASKATOON \u2014 In an academic setting, Rolan Milligan Jr. and Trevor Harris are conducting PhD-level classes in professional…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":667188,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-667187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=667187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/667188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}