The Winnipeg Blue Bombers open rookie camp on May 16^th. This is the sixth in our annual positional-preview series leading up to the first day players hit the field…

RUNNING BACKS 

It is the dreaded number – 30 – that all running backs in professional football are told to fear.

It’s the age when the wear and tear usually starts to show on a ball carrier’s treads, all part of the warning sign a career finish line is just ahead.

It would seem, however, that Andrew Harris has a blunt and succinct message to all this, one that involves him thumbing his nose and shouting a string of expletives directed at ol’ Father Time.

Case in point: after turning 30 last April, the Winnipeg product authored one of the most productive seasons in his eight-year Canadian Football League career. That includes a campaign in which he not only won the rushing title, but set a record for receptions by a running back with 105, while earning a spot on the CFL All-Star Team and being named the league’s Most Outstanding Canadian.

Just to put all this into perspective, munch on these numbers: In his 33 games with his hometown Bombers, Harris has rushed for 2,009 yards and 10 touchdowns, while pulling in an incredible 172 receptions for 1,488 yards and two more scores.

With his dedication to fitness while working behind one of the CFL’s top offensive lines in Paul LaPolice’s versatile and dynamic scheme, there’s little doubt he could post similar numbers in 2018.

And so, as we turn our attention to the running back position in our annual positional preview series all this means there won’t be much change when the Bombers turn their attention to the ground attack in 2018, a facet of the offence that ranked first in the CFL last year with an average of 101.3 rushing yards per game.

Heading into camp, there is only one change to the offensive line with Patrick Neufeld slotted in to replace Travis Bond at left guard, but aside from that, it will still be quarterback Matt Nichols putting the ball in Harris’ hands often as a running back or receiving threat.

The Bombers finished the season with Timothy Flanders lining up as a receiver to get his skillset into the offensive backfield alongside Harris, and whether that continues remains to be seen after an offseason in which Adarius Bowman and Nic Demski were brought aboard in free agency.

Flanders is a splendid option to have behind Harris because he has a 5.7-yards per carry average in two years of spot duty out of the Bombers backfield and has worked diligently at improving his receiving skills. In essence, he has made himself into an import version of the dual threat Harris has become.

As well, the addition of another homegrown running back – University of Manitoba and Sturgeon Heights Collegiate product Kienan LaFrance – means the offence now has an ability to spell Harris, if need be, without it affecting the ratio.

The Bombers list Mike Miller and John Rush as fullbacks, but even before Christophe Normand exited for the Edmonton Eskimos in free agency, the fullback position was hardly featured in the club’s offensive scheme. The Bombers mostly operate in a one-back/five-receiver set, as evidenced by the fact Normand had just 21 touches – 11 carries, 10 receptions – in three years here in Winnipeg.

What will be interesting to track in 2018 is the number of touches Harris gets in the offence. His receiving totals were up last year not just because he is such a matchup threat, but because injuries to Weston Dressler and Darvin Adams led to a revolving door in the receiving corps. All of this isn’t to say Harris won’t still be a threat to become the first back in CFL history to finish with a thousand yards rushing and receiving in a season, especially as his 1,035/857 totals last year were the closest in three-down history to that mark.

But Harris – now 19^th on the CFL’s all-time rushing yardage list – will insist that while the individual accolades are all well and good, the legacy he wants to be a part of is in ending the Grey Cup drought and bringing another title to his hometown.

TRAINING CAMP 2018 PREVIEW | A LOOK AT THE RUNNING BACKS

The Returnees: Andrew Harris*, Timothy Flanders, Mike Miller*, John Rush*
Free agent additions: Kienan LaFrance*
Departures: Christophe Normand (Edmonton)

*Indicates Canadian

IMPACT NEWCOMER

Kienan LaFrance

We know, we know, we know… the options are limited here to picking an ‘Impact Newcomer’, given LaFrance is the only new face at the running back position on the Bombers roster. Still, his signing this winter isn’t just about bringing a local home – although that’s a compelling component of the story. LaFrance’s touches have been limited in his days with Ottawa and Saskatchewan, but there have been just enough flashes to intrigue the Bombers coaching staff. His touches aren’t likely to balloon here, given the durability of Harris, but versatile depth is always valuable to every CFL roster.

X FACTOR

Timothy Flanders

Two words come to mind when discussing Flanders: patience and production. Flanders spent a long stretch on the Bombers practice roster in 2016 before getting his shot, and during last offseason, honed his receiving skills to ensure there would not be a drop off in the skillset if he had to step in again for Harris as an injury replacement. By year’s end that work had earned him a spot as a receiver in the offence.

His history of production, meanwhile, dates to his days as a star at Sam Houston State. But here’s the main number as it relates to Flanders in a Winnipeg uniform: the club was 8-2 last year in games in which he dressed.

STANDOUT NUMBER: 172

The two-year total receptions for Andrew Harris, including last season’s 105, a record for running backs. That number is tied for fifth-highest among all receivers in 2016-17, behind only B.C.’s Manny Arceneaux (205), Brad Sinopoli of Ottawa (181), Luke Tasker of Hamilton (180), and the recently-retired Nik Lewis of Montreal (175), while tied with Greg Ellingson of Ottawa.