Way back in 2005, when Andrew Harris was still in high school, he had a chance to meet Winnipeg Blue Bombers star running back Charles Roberts.

“I remember saying I was going to come and take his job,” Harris said Wednesday.

A dozen years later, Harris does indeed have that job and he’s doing things even Hall of Famer Roberts never accomplished with the Bombers.

Harris is putting together one of the all-time great seasons in the CFL for a running back and he’s doing it right in his own back yard, where he grew up dreaming of leading the Bombers out of their lengthy Grey Cup drought.

“It was all a dream,” the 30-year-old Harris said. “Not to quote Biggie lyrics there, but that’s exactly what it was. It was all a dream. You envision these things but now that you’re in it, you just live it and embrace it and enjoy it.”

A year after he signed with his hometown Winnipeg Blue Bombers, following six seasons with the B.C. Lions, Harris is on pace to smash CFL records.

With five games left in the season, he needs just 19 catches to break the record for most receptions in a season by a running back (102), which was set in 1985 by Craig Ellis of the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Harris is also looking to become the first player in CFL history to record 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving in the same season. He’s currently on pace for 1,098 rushing yards and 994 receiving yards.

Only one player in CFL history has ever recorded more than 800 yards in both categories. That was Toronto’s Robert Drummond in 1997. He had 1,134 yards rushing and 840 yards receiving.

Harris needs to average 56.4 yards per game down the stretch to hit the 1,000 mark in receiving along with 41.4 rushing yards to hit 1K on the ground.

“It was a goal I had,” Harris said of the pursuit of 1,000-1,000. “I’m in reach of it but we’re getting down to the end of the season and there’s going to be games where I might possibly not even play at the end of the season.

“So I’m just trying to get us in the best situation possible for the playoffs and part of that is me being an impact player and getting touches and getting yards.”

Harris was an impact player with the B.C. Lions for six years, twice going over 1,000 yards rushing and being named the most outstanding Canadian in the 2011 Grey Cup.

When he became a free agent in the winter of 2016, he jumped at the chance to sign with his hometown team. That gave him a chance to move home to be with his nine-year-old daughter Hazel and to fulfill a lifelong dream by playing for the Blue and Gold. He had a productive first season with the Bombers in 2016 but has exploded in 2017, touching the football more than any other non-quarterback in the CFL.

“To have the season we’re having, from a team perspective and personally, just family life and overall, it’s just exactly where I want to be,” Harris said.

“Every phase of life right now, just feels great. I’m extremely happy. It’s fun to come to work every day, my teammates … I would sacrifice almost anything to be out there on the field with them to make plays.”

In an offence designed by co-ordinator Paul LaPolice, Harris is the ultimate dual-threat weapon. He has 793 rushing yards and 718 receiving yards, of which a league-high 564 yards were gained after the catch.

His warrior mentality rubs off on everyone around him and he is the perfect passing outlet for Nichols, who is also having his finest season as a CFL quarterback.

“Physically and mentally, the things that (Harris) goes through during a game to be able to put forth the effort that he does on every single play is inspiring,” Nichols said.

“He comes in the next day in the locker room and he’s dancing and having a good time and I don’t understand how he can even move.”

LaPolice is impressed with the way Harris carries himself as a professional. In meetings, Harris repeatedly shows that he understands the game and the game plan and could coach it himself if he had to. He learns every aspect of the offence, everybody’s job.

“He could run the blitz meetings,” LaPolice said.

One of the keys to the success of Harris this season is that the Bombers simply have a strong, balanced offence. They’ve run more plays than any other team in the CFL.

“We have more touches, we convert better than anyone else in the CFL on second down,” LaPolice said. “So we’re on the field more so everybody is getting more touches. That’s shown from all the guys.”

When Harris was parting ways with the Lions, some doubts crept into his mind. Some observers were wondering if he could still be an impact running back and that certainly steeled his determination.

“I knew I still had a lot of gas left in the tank,” Harris said. “A lot of people might have doubted that, so for me is was about overcoming that.

“Any time you go to a new team and a new staff and new fans, you have to prove yourself again. I need to come out and be an impact player every time I touch the ball.”

Keeping players like Harris and Nichols healthy down the stretch is going to be paramount to the Bombers’ playoff success. There’s a good chance the team won’t dress Harris in the last game of the season, if it doesn’t have an impact on the standings, even if he is close to reaching the 1,000-1,000 mark.

It would not be like the Bombers at all to put any kind of personal statistics ahead of their quest for the Grey Cup.

Of course, it’s conceivable the Nov. 3 game at Calgary’s McMahon Stadium could be for first place, although a lot of things would have to go the Bombers’ way over the next five weeks. They are five points behind Calgary right now but have a game in hand.

If that game is for a playoff bye, Harris will surely play and he just might get his chance to break the record.

One thing is for sure. The Bombers will keep going to the Harris well as long as he keeps producing.

“If you had Andrew Harris, you’d be getting him the ball as much as you could too,” Nichols said.

Twyman@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/Ted_Wyman

Harris in elite company among Manitoba athletes

Andrew Harris is a top candidate for the CFL’s most outstanding player award, which is an honour never before stowed upon a Manitoban.

It would take something very special — like a 1,000-yard rushing and 1,000-yard receiving season — for Harris to even get the Bombers MOP nomination over quarterback Matt Nichols, but the running back belongs in the conversation.

He has had that special of a season and if he stays healthy and keeps putting up the numbers, it could be an historic one.

If he does earn a nomination for the MOP, he’d be in an elite class among Canadians. The only other Canadians to have won the league’s MOP award are Calgary running back Jon Cornish in 2013, Ottawa receiver Tony Gabriel in 1978 and Ottawa quarterback Russ Jackson in 1963, 1966 and 1969.

Harris is the best CFL player from Winnipeg since Chris Walby starred on the offensive line for the Bombers for 15 years in the 1980’s and ’90s.

Now, can Harris do what Walby did and help deliver a Grey Cup to his hometown? Walby did it three times — in 1984, 1988 and 1990 — and was an all-star in two of those seasons. Overall, he was a CFL all-star nine times, outstanding lineman in the league twice.

Harris is not nearly as decorated, though he is a three-time CFL all-star, but getting his name in the record books will certainly put him in an elite class of Manitoba athletes.

The next eight weeks, right through the Grey Cup in Ottawa, will give Harris a chance to cement his legacy.

— Wyman