Winnipeg Blue Bombers running back Andrew Harris won’t be carrying the rock very much in training camp.
Harris left practice early on Monday for an appointment and didn’t participate at all on day four of camp on Tuesday.
Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea intends to rest Harris for much of the first two weeks of training camp which, would help save the veteran’s legs for the regular season.
“We don’t need Andrew to practice right now,” said O’Shea. “We need to get the reps for the young guys that are gonna be with us in that kind of capacity all year long, and evaluate those positions.”
The Bombers have five other running backs in camp this year including CFL rookie Devonte Williams who was just signed earlier on Tuesday.
Harris has led the CFL in rushing in each of the past three straight years and he’s been given a veterans day off several times in previous seasons.
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“Andrew is probably gonna take it easy for the next couple weeks, and then he’ll be ready to go when I ask him to be,” O’Shea said. “If I asked him to practice today, he’d practice today. If I asked him to practice tomorrow, he’ll practice tomorrow. But I’m not going to ask him to practice for a little bit, cause we need to figure out who’s behind him, and what they’re doing.”
Harris is now 34-years-old and has 10 CFL seasons under his belt, but O’Shea seems unconcerned with the durability of his aging running back.
“You got to protect your guys,” said O’Shea. “This is part of the plan of having a veteran training camp, a veteran team.”
“The importance that we put on having those vets for a shortened season with no pre-season games. Part of the trade off is making sure that you keep your vets healthy. So throughout camp you’ll see guys sorta rotating in and out and not practicing.”
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