jerrym
04-10-2016, 01:37 AM
Cameron Wake's career almost ended before it began.
n just two seasons with B.C., Wake was the ultimate dominating force on a Lions’ defensive line that was so talented and so menacing against opposing offences.“It was fun. We went out there and just played. I wasn’t even thinking about the numbers. We were just going out there … and we’re going to cause havoc,” said Wake on Thursday, prior to being the keynote speaker at the Orange Helmet Awards, an event that raises money for amateur football in the province.
His first year in 2007, he had 16 quarterback sacks and was named the CFL’s top rookie and most outstanding defensive player. The following season, he recorded 23 sacks, which was only 3.5 off the all-time record held by another Lion, James Parker, from 1984.
And after two magnificent years in the CFL, Wake took his talents to the NFL and the Dolphins. His time there has also been highly successful from an individual standpoint, where he’s earned four Pro Bowl nods. But where it all began in Vancouver almost didn’t begin at all. The story goes that when the Lions invited Wake to a free agent tryout, held at a local school in Washington, D.C., the Penn State product actually showed up at the wrong school. He missed the tryout as a result.
He thought, rightfully so, that his opportunity was gone. It was the Lions’ own club policy at the time not to sign players to training camp if they didn’t attend these earlier camps. Fortunately for Wake, the Lions and their fans, the CFL, the Dolphins and the NFL, the Leos’ football operations department decided this time to bend their own rules.
Imagine, for a second, what could’ve happened if they took the hard line and passed on Wake.
“I wasn’t playing. I was on the street and to get a notice, like here’s a workout. I hadn’t gotten a workout for months. I had been working out with no … light at the end of the tunnel,” said Wake. ...
“It went from Christmas morning to pure devastation.”
Looking at it from the perspective of a coach or GM, it seems Wake would’ve understood if the Lions’ brass decided, based on his going to the wrong facility for the tryout, ‘Thanks but no thanks.’
But when the Lions brought him into the fold for training camp in Abbotsford, despite the error, that fuelled Wake to prove to them they had made the right call.
“I was even more ready and more fired up to say, ‘Once I get to this training camp, there’s no way that I’m leaving here without taking over,’” he said.
Taking over? Maybe that’s understating what he did in a Lions uniform.
He’s been a force in the NFL, too. He didn’t just sign, attend camp and then return to the CFL. In seven seasons with the Dolphins, he’s been an impact player, recording a total of 210 tackles and 70 sacks. In 2012, he recorded 15 sacks, an NFL career high for him, to go along with his aforementioned Pro Bowl accolades.
His 2015 campaign was disrupted by a torn Achilles. As of Thursday, he doesn’t have a set timetable for when he could return to 100 per cent. However, based on reports out of the NFL in March, the Dolphins and his agent are working on a contract extension.
http://www.bclions.com/2016/04/08/wake-salutes-first-football-family/
http://www.metronews.ca/news/vancouver/2016/04/07/former-lions-star-cameron-wake-returns-to-where-it-all-began.html
n just two seasons with B.C., Wake was the ultimate dominating force on a Lions’ defensive line that was so talented and so menacing against opposing offences.“It was fun. We went out there and just played. I wasn’t even thinking about the numbers. We were just going out there … and we’re going to cause havoc,” said Wake on Thursday, prior to being the keynote speaker at the Orange Helmet Awards, an event that raises money for amateur football in the province.
His first year in 2007, he had 16 quarterback sacks and was named the CFL’s top rookie and most outstanding defensive player. The following season, he recorded 23 sacks, which was only 3.5 off the all-time record held by another Lion, James Parker, from 1984.
And after two magnificent years in the CFL, Wake took his talents to the NFL and the Dolphins. His time there has also been highly successful from an individual standpoint, where he’s earned four Pro Bowl nods. But where it all began in Vancouver almost didn’t begin at all. The story goes that when the Lions invited Wake to a free agent tryout, held at a local school in Washington, D.C., the Penn State product actually showed up at the wrong school. He missed the tryout as a result.
He thought, rightfully so, that his opportunity was gone. It was the Lions’ own club policy at the time not to sign players to training camp if they didn’t attend these earlier camps. Fortunately for Wake, the Lions and their fans, the CFL, the Dolphins and the NFL, the Leos’ football operations department decided this time to bend their own rules.
Imagine, for a second, what could’ve happened if they took the hard line and passed on Wake.
“I wasn’t playing. I was on the street and to get a notice, like here’s a workout. I hadn’t gotten a workout for months. I had been working out with no … light at the end of the tunnel,” said Wake. ...
“It went from Christmas morning to pure devastation.”
Looking at it from the perspective of a coach or GM, it seems Wake would’ve understood if the Lions’ brass decided, based on his going to the wrong facility for the tryout, ‘Thanks but no thanks.’
But when the Lions brought him into the fold for training camp in Abbotsford, despite the error, that fuelled Wake to prove to them they had made the right call.
“I was even more ready and more fired up to say, ‘Once I get to this training camp, there’s no way that I’m leaving here without taking over,’” he said.
Taking over? Maybe that’s understating what he did in a Lions uniform.
He’s been a force in the NFL, too. He didn’t just sign, attend camp and then return to the CFL. In seven seasons with the Dolphins, he’s been an impact player, recording a total of 210 tackles and 70 sacks. In 2012, he recorded 15 sacks, an NFL career high for him, to go along with his aforementioned Pro Bowl accolades.
His 2015 campaign was disrupted by a torn Achilles. As of Thursday, he doesn’t have a set timetable for when he could return to 100 per cent. However, based on reports out of the NFL in March, the Dolphins and his agent are working on a contract extension.
http://www.bclions.com/2016/04/08/wake-salutes-first-football-family/
http://www.metronews.ca/news/vancouver/2016/04/07/former-lions-star-cameron-wake-returns-to-where-it-all-began.html