Esks’ Reed misses his good friend; Thursday game marks one-year anniversary of Harris’s death
Chris O’Leary
Edmonton Journal
The date of the game will be tough to deal with. The fact that it’s in Winnipeg just makes it more difficult.
“I wish the schedule had broken down in a different way,” Edmonton Eskimo head coach Kavis Reed said of his team’s game on Thursday against the Blue Bombers. More than the football storylines, Thursday will mark the one-year anniversary of the death of Richard Harris, Winnipeg’s defensive line and assistant coach.
Harris died of a heart attack in his office on July 26, 2011.
“I talked to a few people in Winnipeg (on Tuesday) and it’s going to be very difficult emotionally,” Reed said. “But it is what it is. We’ll honour his memory, but emotionally it’s difficult.”
Reed was Winnipeg’s defensive coordinator in 2010 and worked with Harris. He said that their friendship ran longer than just that one year they worked for the same team.
“Prior to us being colleagues in Winnipeg, we were close friends,” he said. “We talked every game that we played against each other.
“We always made the joke that before our careers ended in the CFL that we’d work together and I had the good fortune of working with him. He’s a salt-of-the-earth kind of guy – literally and figuratively would give you the shirt off of his back.”
The timing around Harris’ passing had Reed nearby last year as well. The Eskimos came to Winnipeg in Week 6 of the CFL season, a week and a half after Harris died. The Eskimo schedule allowed the team to spend six days in Winnipeg, before trekking on to Montreal for Week 7. In that time, Reed was able to attend Harris’ funeral, where he gave a scripture reading.
“He’s a man that he calls every day just to check up on you,” Reed said. “Every day, I would have a conversation with coach Harris, just to see how you’re doing.
“God didn’t make too many guys like him, in terms of his heart, that wanted to do the right things. He epitomized what a friend truly is.”
Reed said Harris’ coaching style influenced his.
“The way he approaches his players – he’s the guy that’s always going to take care of his players and treat them extra special,” Reed said.
“He’s hard on them, he was very demanding, but at the same time he loved them and everything he was doing was trying to make them better men and better players.
“He could be very difficult, in terms of being hard on them, but at the same time he’s going to buy them breakfast every game day, he’s going to buy them breakfast on the road, he’s going to make sure they’re always looked after, in terms of personal health and that they’re in good mental health and emotional health.”
Burnett defensive player of the week
File it under no-brainer. The CFL named Eskimo cornerback Joe Burnett its defensive player of the week, in light of his two-interception performance on Friday against the BC Lions.
Burnett’s second pick on BC quarterback Travis Lulay was a game-breaker. He took the ball 108 yards for a victory-sealing touchdown that vaulted Edmonton into a tie for first place in the CFL West Division.
Burnett joined the Eskimos briefly last season, spending the final two weeks of October with the team.
A great training camp got him the starting cornerback gig this year and he hasn’t looked back. He has three interceptions on the season, along with 13 tackles, three special teams tackles and a knockdown.
“He’s been an exceptional young man,” Eskimo head coach Kavis Reed said of Burnett.
“We had him for a while last year – and we all agreed that he had the talent and the ability to play at this level. In those two short weeks that we were able to work with him, he made it clear that he was the heir apparent to an older or veteran guy in terms of Jykine Bradley.
“He hasn’t disappointed us.”
Bertrand moves to nine-game list
The Eskimos have moved Mathieu Bertrand to the nine-game injured list.
The 34-year-old fullback played in all of the Eskimo games last season, but suffered a groin injury last week against the Lions.
For now, Evan Harrington will come off of the practice roster to replace Bertrand. Running back Pascal Fils is also on the nine-game list, after being injured in practice last week.
Also sitting out of Thursday’s game will be WR Greg Carr (ankle), DE Marcus Howard (hamstring), HB Weldon Brown, Clint Kent (knee) and Ricardo Colclough (leg). OL Simeon Rottier is expected to be out a few weeks, but h
is elbow injury isn’t severe enough to land him on the nine-game list.
The Eskimos released return man and receiver Yamon Figurs on Tuesday. Figurs had worked through a knee injury in training camp, but struggled to give the team good field position on returns.