Lowell Ullrich
Vancouver Province

VANCOUVER - It is not exactly mandatory to know which books Cameron Wake may have read in order to become one of the most effective defensive ends in the CFL again this season.

It is, however, perhaps relevant to note one of the last things the B.C. Lions rush end will peruse before tonight's game against the Calgary Stampeders at BC Place Stadium is the visiting team's media guide.

A ritual for the sculpted sophomore is to check out which offensive tackles he will be playing that game with the intent of learning something a lot more than their blocking habits.

"I don't know if it's any different than anyone else," Wake scoffed. "I try to get everything I can about the person. It's just knowing my enemy or the animal."

Talking about his sack and forced fumble after the Lions' last game on Aug. 8, Wake pridefully pulled the Edmonton Eskimos media guide out of his locker, where the book was marked with the page belonging to Joe McGrath, the right tackle who had been mashed for the previous three hours.

It doesn't exactly make Wake a bookworm. But you might say he and fellow lineman Brent Johnson are at least bookends.

And what the two do against Calgary might not only influence tonight's outcome, it's becoming more apparent their pressure and that also applied by tackles Tyrone Williams and Aaron Hunt will directly impact the Lions success the rest of the way.

With a combined 15 sacks, Wake (eight) and Johnson (seven) have more than four other CFL teams, but more important is the fact the Lions are 4-0 when one of them puts the quarterback on his back. No pressure and the Lions' secondary are on their own in coverage.

Getting to Stamps quarterback Henry Burris has been even a more formidable task, however, and was rendered almost impossible when the Lions lined up for their season-opening loss, 28-18 in Calgary on June 26.

It not only was the only game so far in which the front four went sack-less, for the Stamps offensive front it became a springboard to the team's 4-3 start.

Burris has only been sacked a league-low seven times, an achievement made more noteworthy by the fact the Stamps are starting three rookies on the line, including left guard Jesse Newman, of Powell River, B.C.

So all Wake and Johnson have to do is get past the league's top bodyguards, keep tailback Joffrey Reynolds from getting to the outside, then contain Burris, who is developing an Anthony Calvillo-like quick trigger release. Easy.

"You definitely have more than one job," Wake said Thursday. "It takes a lot of practice and the onus is pretty much on me. I like that challenge, but it's definitely a task."

Gone are the days when Wake and Johnson play without a spotlight trailing them everywhere, which increasingly may mean for the Lions their best hope of getting to the quarterback is for the bookends to provide cover for a blitzing linebacker or defensive back.

"(CFL great) Joe Montford never went under the radar after he started winning awards," said Johnson, a two-time top Canadian and winner of three major post-season career awards.

"Four or five years ago when I was starting it was great; you could fly around. Then you get an accolade and the whole world changes. That's life.

"If we can disrupt people we can put them into second-and-10 and now we can go after people. When they're second and short it's not always in our best interest to go flying up there. Every team we go against is going to try and implement getting the ball out fast. It's hard for us."

Wake may still make it look easy, leading all defensive lineman with 25 tackles in the early going, but it's obvious he and the Lions are still in need of help. He'll study the Calgary biogs of tackles Ben Archibald and Jeff Pilon for clues.

If he can read them like a book, the Lions may have a chance tonight.

Courtesy: www.vancouverprovince.com