Graham Harrell Arrives

Graham Harrell, the highly touted quarterback from Texas Tech University, is now signed, sealed and delivered having officially signed his contract with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. He met the media for the first time today. Here are some comments....

"I know they like to throw the football, but other than that not too much. I’ve seen some games before so I got to see quite a bit. It looks like a fun game. They spread it out and throw the football around. It looks exciting."

"It’s great having Eric Morris (Texas Tech teammate)up here. He was one of my best friends at Texas Tech, so having him up here asking him what he knows. He likes it up here, he says its fun and a game he enjoys playing. If he’s enjoying it that much, I thought I would too. As I said, we are good friends and we do a lot together so yeah I guess he had a lot to do with me getting here ."

"I’m excited to be here in a game that hopefully fits my skills. Like I said, they will spread it out and I’ll throw it. That’s what I’ve been doing my whole life."

"The field is real wide. You don’t realize how wide it is until you get out there and stand on it. I’m excited to get out there and see what its like when I start practicing. "

"There’s still a lot of learning to do. I’ve got to learn the game, learn the offence here in Saskatchewan. Everything starts tomorrow."

DIRECTOR OF PLAYER PERSONNEL JOE WOMACK

"We’re excited to have him up here. He’s had a wonderful career at Texas Tech, and we were fortunate to have one of his receivers (Eric Morris) up here to help persuade him that the CFL is a great league to be in."

"Graham feels like the CFL gives him the best opportunity to further his career. He has had lots of interest from the NFL recently and the new UFL league. In fact, Dennis Green has been trying hard to get him to play for the new team in San Francisco, but Eric managed to convince Graham and his agent that this might be a better route for him."

"There are no guarantees. We have a young quarterback group and we are trying to evolve game to game. He knows coming in there are no guarantees so Graham will have to earn his own way and understand the nuances of the Canadian game like the width of the field. He has great talent, he is very intelligent, very accomplished. He is a fine young man who comes from a top-notch program in Texas Tech. We are happy he is here."

"I think some people felt like his arm strength wasn’t what they were looking for. I disagree with that. He has a quick release, he is very accurate. We think he has what it takes to compete for a position on this football club. We like what he brings to the table."

"We don’t want to put too much pressure on him right now. Pressure will be there because of his collegiate background, but we think its going to take time. I think everyone who follows football knows the quarterback position is the point man. Its going to take him a while to learn this game. I like the quarterbacks we have, but it makes for an interesting situation and lets our other quarterbacks know that it’s a business and you have to come ready for work each and every day."