Getty Dayan Lake (middle) during his BYU playing days in 2016 before a contest against Arizona. The Los Angeles Rams announced that Lake was waived on Thursday in the latest transaction move.
It’s the time of year for roster changes, and the Los Angeles Rams for the second day in a row made another waive.
This time a change was made on defense, as Dayan Lake became the latest Ram to be waived by the team, the Rams announced on Thursday.
ESPN Rams reporter Lindsey Thiry broke the news first at around 11:05 a.m. PT.
The Rams have waived DB Dayan Lake, the team announced.
Lake’s name is additionally no longer listed on the Rams’ team website, as the remaining three players with the last name beginning in the letter “L” are Justin Lawler, Terrell Lewis and David Long.
Who is Dayan Lake?
The 5-foot-11, 200-pound Lake arrived to L.A. as an undrafted free agent out of Brigham Young University (BYU) in April 2020. Lake, who was born in Liberia, went by Dayan Ghanwoloku during the tail end of his Cougars career.
Lake went on to start in 43 games at BYU and went on to land in the school record books with seven career fumble recoveries. Outside of pouncing on the loose football, he established himself as a sure tackler – snatching 203 career tackles including 147 solo stops. In three of his four seasons, Lake intercepted the football twice. In 2017, his two picks came against Southeastern Conference (SEC) opponent Mississippi State in a 35-10 loss. He also delivered a scoop-and-score play against Cal in 2018 despite the 21-18 loss to the Golden Bears.
My Goodness!!! #ScoopNScore
BYU’s Dayan Ghanwoloku (@Lake_Era5) with the scoop-n-score for the Cougars. What a HIT by Butch Pau’u!! #BYUFOOTBALL #GoCougs #CALvsBYU #BYU @byuROC
Two of his six career takeaways came against ranked opponents: 2016 against No. 14 Boise State and 2019 versus No. 24 ranked USC in the 30-27 victory. His ’16 pick on the blue turf became a defensive touchdown.
Video: Dayan Lake (@Lake_Era5) gave @BYUfootball its first lead at 17-14 over @BroncoSportsFB with this pick-6 in eventual 28-27 loss
Before his departure from the Rams, Lake was one of 24 former BYU players listed on an NFL roster. Plus was one of two Cougar representatives on the Rams along with fellow undrafted player Troy Warner.
Lake Has Been Let Go Before
Lake never heard his phone buzzing or saw his name called on NFL Draft day 2020. The Rams were the first team to give him a chance to compete for a roster spot by signing a UDFA contract.
However, he was eventually waived by the Rams in September 2020 as part of the team’s final roster cuts to 53 players.
After his first experience of getting cut, Lake had a brief tenure in The Spring League in October, revealed below.
The #TSL2020 Conquerors secondary! ⚔️
His TSL stay was short lived and found his way to the New England Patriots, signing on to the practice squad on December 9 the team announced. However, not even a week later, the Pats announced they were parting ways with Lake.
On June 1, the Rams decided to give Lake another try, adding him back to the roster before their June 10 open practice in front of fans at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.
Now, the Rams continue to dwindle down the roster numbers with not only preseason on the horizon, but August 17 is 12 days away: The day NFL teams are required to go down to 85 players.
Lake is now the second Ram to be waived by the team in consecutive days. The team announced offensive linemen and former sixth rounder in the 2018 draft Jamil Demby got waived.