By Perry Lefko
SPORTSNET.CA
B.C. Lions defensive end Cameron Wake should not only be considered for the Outstanding Defensive Player award in the Canadian Football League, but also for the Most Outstanding Player award.
That’s the opinion of Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ general manager Bob O’Billovich, who during his time in B.C. as the Lions’ director of player personnel signed Wake sight unseen in May 2007.
Wake is on pace to shatter the CFL single-season record for sacks. He has 18, only nine shy of setting a new record, erasing the mark set by James (Quick) Parker, also of the Lions, in 1984.
With five games to go, including Friday night in Toronto against the Argos, it’s almost a given Wake will rewrite the record.
"If he keeps doing what he’s doing, I don’t know how he wouldn’t (break the record), unless he gets hurt," O’Billovich said.
O’Billovich said Wake should be considered for the both year-end awards, which would be a first since the Most Outstanding Player was instituted in the CFL in 1953.
"I would say he’s the (Most Outstanding Player) and (Most Outstanding) Defensive Player," O’Billovich opined. "I don’t see any quarterback or running back that is more dominant than he is at his position. He’s had an outstanding year and he keeps getting better."
Wake was voted the CFL’s Rookie of the Year and Outstanding Defensive Player last year, becoming the first to do it.
Wake played at Penn State, primarily as an outside linebacker, and had tryouts with the New York Giants and Washington Redskins without catching on with either one. Through his agent, Wake was able to get a look from the Lions last year at an open workout at Hampton University in Hampton, Va. But because of a mixup with his agent, Wake went to Howard University in Washington, D.C. Halfway through the workout, he called O’Billovich to ask for directions, whereupon he discovered he had gone to the wrong university.
But O’Billovich liked enough of Wake from his game film that he signed him. The Lions were only three weeks away from training camp and had only a few defensive ends.
"After his first day of one-on-one (drills), I said to Wally, ‘We might have a better guy than Chris Wilson,’" O’Billovich said.
Wilson played for the Lions as a defensive end in 2005 and 2006 and did well enough to receive a contract from the Redskins.
"Chris Wilson stands on his own merit," O’Billovich said. "He did well for us and is playing well for the Redskins. Cameron Wake is playing well for us and he’ll do well for somebody else (in the NFL). He’s one of the better (players) to come along in a long time since I’ve been in the league (beginning as an assistant coach in 1976).
"Athletically, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone better than him at his position. He’s a rare talent. He’s just been a real special guy. Everything that is being said about him is much deserved. The other thing is he’s a good kid. It’s good to see good things happen to good people."
O’Billovich said whatever money Wilson received as a signing bonus, Wake will receive a lot more.
"The Redskins did due diligence and got a good player from our league," O’Billovich said. "People didn’t know as much about him, but the whole NFL knows about (Wake). He’s going to have a lot of leverage after this season."
Wake enters his option year next year, but because of the CFL-NFL agreement that allows CFL players to exercise a two-month window after the season ends to sign with an NFL team, he is expected to be NFL bound, signed and sealed.
Former CFL rush end Daved Benefield, who played briefly in the NFL, said Wake can make it in the NFL if he can find a team with a need for situational pass rusher in a 4-3 defence or a team that needs a guy to compete in a 3-4 defence at either strong or weakside linebacker at the league minimum (salary)," Benefield said. "A bunch of teams are going to the 3-4 defence which would be his strong suit. But of the top guys drafted last year, only a couple are actually playing and doing anything (as starters). They will have a huge advantage on him if he should go to one of those teams, and then for him to unseat them it will come down to dollars and cents and how their contract was structured.
"I spoke to him a couple times this year about working a change up and an assortment of moves and I can tell he is slowly expanding his arsenal. He still isn’t where he should be, but things can change. He will definitely need a couple of extra moves in the NFL.
"In his favour are (Rashad) Jeanty (formerly of Edmonton), who is doing well in his third year with the (Cincinnati) Bengals and Wilson who is in his third year with the ‘Skins, so Cam has a great opportunity."
O’Billovich said there really is no comparison between Wake, who is 6-foot-3 and 241 pounds, and Parker.
"Parker was unique in that he became a rush end and he was only 5-foot-10, but he just had tremendous quickness, that’s why he was called Quick," O’Billovich said. "(Wake) is such a big guy and athletically he can do it all. He has powerful explosion and he uses his quickness and speed that Quick Parker did, but he’s got other advantages.
"Think of Quick Parker and put his athleticism into Cameron Wake and add another six inches and add another 12-16 inches in the vertical jump and longer arms and bigger body. Cameron Wake is a bigger version of Quick Parker with more athletic ability."
O’Billovich noted that what makes Wake so complete is that he not only racks up sacks, he also registers a lot of defensive tackles. He had 72 last year and this year he has 56.
"He’s got all the ingredients that have made him what he is," O’Billovich said. "Look at his defensive tackles. I bet if you look at those other (sack specialists), I bet they don’t have the number of defensive tackles that he has. There’s a lot of reasons to look at him and be impressed."
It begs the question: Is Cameron Wake the best rush end in the history of the CFL?
Giulio Caravatta, a former quarterback with the B.C. Lions and now the radio analyst for the team’s games, asked Lions’ defensive line coach Mike Roach whether Wake is one of the best he’s ever had.
"He said (Wake) was right (up) there," Caravatta said. "It’s tough for him and I think it’s tough for a lot of coaches to compare him because it’s different eras and the defensive ends were physically a different kind of makeup, but I will say this: as long as I’ve been with the Lions and it’s coming up on 18 years as a player and a broadcaster, I haven’t been riveted to a defensive player like I am with him.
"I find myself not watching the ball some plays and watching him because I want to know what he’s going to do next. Physically he’s such a dominating force on the field that you just think to yourself, ‘this guy is just a freak’ and when you see him do the things that he does you just have to look at him and say, ‘wow.’"
"This is a guy that unfortunately for the Canadian Football League we won’t see him for very much longer, but God only knows what he would have been able to do with this league if he would have played her for 10 years. It’s been a real treat watching him play."
