Kamerion Wimbley

Attending Wichita Northwest High School in Kansas, Wimbley played defensive end, linebacker, quarterback, receiver and punter. He earned Parade and SuperPrep All-America honors during his senior season and was considered to be one of the top high school athletes in the nation. He played in the 2002 U.S. Army All-American Bowl.

Considered a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, Wimbley was ranked 58th overall among football prospects of the class of 2002.[1] He selected Florida State over Notre Dame, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Wimbley graduated from Northwest High School in December 2001 (a semester early) and enrolled at Florida State in the spring of 2002.

At Florida State, Wimbley played in all 14 games including the 2003 Sugar Bowl against Georgia as a true freshman, lining up at defensive end while also earning extensive playing time on special teams throughout the season. Wimbley finished the season as the second leading tackler among all Seminole freshmen with 17 stops, behind only A. J. Nicholson. In the Seminoles win at Georgia Tech in early November, Wimbley recorded six solo tackles.

In his sophomore year, Wimbley was still primarily serving as back-up to Eric Moore. Playing in all 13 games, he recorded 38 tackles (30 solo and eight assisted), 6.5 tackles for lost yardage, 2.5 quarterback sacks, two pass break-ups and seven quarterback hurries. His first career start came against Duke, as he replaced the injured Moore and responded with a career-high tying eight tackles. Wimbley's best game of the season came against Colorado with a career-high eight tackles (four for lost yardage), two sacks, two third down stops, two pass deflections and one forced fumble.

Still only a back-up to Moore at right defensive, Wimbley played in all 12 games as a junior. Only against Syracuse and Virginia he replaced Moore in the starting line-up. Wimbley finished the season with 27 tackles and 7 quarterback hurries. Five of those came in the victory over Wake Forest. He also had a season-high five tackles in Florida State's victory over Clemson.

As a senior, he recorded three multiple sack games and lead the ACC in sacks before suffering a knee injury against NC State. He also led the team in quarterback hurries with 17 and set career-highs in season sacks and tackles for a loss. He returned to the starting lineup for the Orange Bowl against Penn State, his last career game. Despite being injured part of the season, Wimbley was named second-team All-ACC and was named All-America by Pro Football Weekly.

Although playing 4-3 defensive end at Florida State, Wimbley was considered "not big enough to play there on a consistent basis in the NFL."[2] Rather, he was considered an ideal fit at 3-4 rush linebacker by most NFL scouts.

For their 3-4 defense, the Cleveland Browns were in need of a run-stuffer and a pass rusher. There was discussion that the team should pick nose tackle Haloti Ngata, but according to general manager Phil Savage, the coaching staff wanted to pressure the quarterback, so the team targeted Wimbley.[3] The Browns selected him in the first round as the 13th pick overall in the 2006 NFL Draft.[4]

Wimbley owns a Florida-based dog registry called Bull Breed Coalition Registry. It offers more innovative options for a broader population of people to be able to track their dogs' ancestry. Additionally, the BBCR provides education on breeding, training, raising, showing, adopting, and rescuing.[10]

Wimbley competed and won the 2013 Super Bowl Cook-off Competition on the Rachael Ray Show. His competitors were Martellus Bennett and Dwight Freeney. Wimbley had the best recipe as determined by Tony Siragusa. Wimbley created andouille sausage and shrimp over grits, a dish that was well-suited with New Orleans as the Super Bowl host. Wimbley won a large, Super Bowl-style ring.[11]

Wimbley owns several businesses in his hometown of Wichita, Kansas, including a barbershop chain with two locations and a fitness center. He also owned a restaurant called Wings & Things, however, his locations were seized in February 2018 by the Kansas Department of Revenue for owing $82,329.50 in state taxes.[12]

On March 27, 2012, Wimbley participated in G4's American Ninja Warrior South-East Regional Qualifying round. He successfully finished the course with a time of 1:30.87. This time was fast enough to advance him to the Regional Finals. He successfully completed this extended course with a time of 4:25.08. Despite this, his time was not good enough to move on, finishing just one spot off of qualification for the next stage of the competition. He competed again in 2020.

Wimbley appeared on a charity edition of MTV's The Challenge, titled The Challenge: Champs vs. Pros. He competed to raise money for Kamerion Wimbley Foundation, which seeks to raise funding for at-risk youths. He finished as the male runner-up.