This is not your first time. … You’ve done this before. … It’s just a different-colored uniform and a little warmer. … Get to the quarterback.
The words scrolled through Cameron Wake‘s mind in an endless loop on a steamy August night. He was about to play his first NFL preseason game, something he’d waited five years to experience. He didn’t want to blow it.
Wake was a dynamic linebacker at Penn State, a captain. But when he left campus he might as well have fallen off the face of the earth. He wasn’t drafted, and although he signed with the New York Giants, they cut him before training camp began.
So he floated. For years. He took a job shuffling mortgage papers, another as a personal trainer. A pro tryout got mixed in here or there. He assumed a new name.
Wake finally landed in the Canadian Football League and created enough of a ruckus to get another shot at the NFL.
He signed with the Miami Dolphins, and that’s what brings him to that seminal moment in August at Land Shark Stadium. It’s only the preseason, but he feels the moment and wants to make sure he experiences many more.
“I don’t know if it’s fear, but it’s a feeling of wanting to make sure you’re as ready as you can be when the moment comes,” Wake said. “If you’re not nervous when that situation comes up, then something’s wrong with you. But that situation has happened many, many times.
“When I went up to Canada, every game was a chance. Coming down here [to the Dolphins] and auditioning for the various teams, this was my chance. Getting on the field was my chance. The first preseason game, ‘Don’t blow it.’ It’s something I’ve definitely come across more than once.”
Wake has shown he belongs in the NFL. He was deactivated the first three games and gets the scrap snaps left over from veteran outside linebackers Joey Porter, Jason Taylor, Matt Roth and Charlie Anderson.
But Wake has managed to get to the quarterback a few times anyway. He enters Thursday night’s game against the Carolina Panthers with 4.5 sacks, tied for second on the team and one behind Taylor.
Symbolic of Wake’s journey, he traveled as far as a professional football geographically could — about 2,800 miles from Vancouver to Miami — to get his big break. He spent the past two seasons as a 4-3 defensive end for the BC Lions. He collected 39 sacks and was named the CFL’s best defensive player each year.
“It’s amazing,” Wake said. “I changed positions, changed leagues, changed climates, changed coaches, changed countries. I’m literally in the opposite corner of the continent. It has been a major journey.”
Wake, however, won’t ever admit to feeling like he has arrived.
“Once you get a little bit, you want a lot more,” Wake said. “When I signed, that was fine. I was part of the Dolphins. But that wasn’t enough. I wanted to make the team. I made the team. That wasn’t enough. I wanted to play. When I played and got a couple sacks, that’s not enough.
“I need more. Give me more. I want more responsibility. I want more everything. I know it’s not going to happen overnight, but I’m hungry.”
Wake will turn 28 in January. Brigham Young grads and even Chris Weinke think that’s pretty old for someone with one season of NFL experience.
“
It’s amazing. I changed positions, changed leagues, changed climates, changed coaches, changed countries. I’m literally in the opposite corner of the continent. It has been a major journey.
”– Dolphins linebacker Cameron Wake
The long road to quasi-rookie status has given Wake perspective.
He calls himself “a sponge,” trying to absorb as much as he can from the wisdom that surrounds him. He played for Joe Paterno (under the name Derek Wake), but for the past nine months he has been inundated by highly concentrated football lessons from the likes of football operations boss Bill Parcells, head coach Tony Sparano, defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni, the NFL’s the active sacks leader (Taylor) and last seasons’ AFC sacks leader (Porter).
“Sitting in the locker room, you can see all the guys who were big names coming out of college,” Wake said. “No disrespect to the easy way to the NFL, but I had to sit on the couch. Being cut from football and having to go off somewhere and having to work your way back in, you appreciate every day moreso than maybe somebody who hasn’t had to go through that.”
Many Dolfans would like to see Wake get more chances to produce in games. Porter hasn’t been getting it done. Porter has been bothered by a hamstring problem and was benched for Sunday’s victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Wake had a sack against the Buccaneers, giving him one in consecutive games.
But his signature NFL performance thus far came in his second regular-season game. He recorded 2.5 sacks and forced a fumble against the Buffalo Bills in Week 4.
He abused Bills right tackle Kirk Chambers. Wake used speed and power to record his first NFL sack. He sprinted deep into the Bills’ backfield, made a U-turn to shake off Chambers and charged at Trent Edwards from behind, jarring the ball loose.
Wake slowly climbed to his feet, stomping as he rose. He clenched his fists, and in a sudden motion arched his back, threw his arms outward and yelled at the sky.
“It’s amazing to go from the couch to a game ball,” Wake said. “It’s hard to put into words. That journey, to get to that point, it’s just the beginning.”
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