Saskatchewan Roughriders' quarterback Trevor Harris is confident there's more to come from star running back A.J. Ouellette after a productive performance against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in a 28-23 win.
"Some of the runs that he made, they gained four yards and he made two guys miss -- truly incredible. A.J. has always been the guy that we knew that we thought we got in free agency," Harris said post-game. "You're really starting to see him come into form and who he is."
Ouellette finished the game against the Tiger-Cats with 13 carries for 96 yards and one touchdown. That TD came from 47 yards out and marked the longest run in his CFL career.
"He finally got his hips right this offseason and unfortunately got dinged in the head last week,” Harris said. “What a lot of people don't know is he's maybe the best in pass protection that I've seen."
In Week 1, the five-foot-eight, 208-pound back took a helmet-to-helmet hit from Ottawa Redblacks' strong-side linebacker Adarius Pickett which forced Ouellette to leave the game. He needed to go through and pass the league's concussion protocols to be cleared for play against the Ticats.
Saskatchewan's offensive line paved the way for Ouellette and procted Harris very well, allowing one sack against Hamilton after none on the team's season opener.
"Absolute studs, I'm fortunate to be able to play behind those guys. I always tell them that sack total is our numbers, it's our stats and it means a lot to me because I know it means a lot to them. I need to make sure I continue to do my part of getting the ball out when I need to, not holding on to it and making their lives any more stressful," Harris said.
"They've done a tremendous job, super thankful for them, as well as A.J. and the times where we have receivers sight adjusting. It's a whole offensive number and we take a lot of pride in it."
Riders' head coach Corey Mace shared similar sentiments about his offensive line group.
"They've done a tremendous job keeping Trevor upright, specifically versus defences who have many different blitzing schemes. It's not easy and I know how much work these guys put into that to keep Trevor upright," Mace said.
"Then also to get the ball rolling in the run game, I know they take pride in that as well. To see A.J. getting to break out a long run, that's awesome to see any time you get that mullet flying."
The Green and White travel to Toronto on Friday to take on the Argonauts. Catch the pre-game show with Teagan Witko, Justin Dunk and Wes Cates at 2:30 p.m. while Dave Thomas and Luc Mullinder will have the call at 5:30 p.m. You can hear everything on the 620 CKRM Co-operators Rider Broadcast Network.
