As a defensive end at Wingate University, a Division-II school in North Carolina, Kenwin Cummings was a big fish in a small pond who basically tackled everything that swam by.
Named first-team All-America twice, and All-South Atlantic Conference three times, Cummings finished his collegiate career with 26.5 sacks and 243 tackles.
But even with those impressive accolades, he wasn't chosen during the 2008 NFL Draft. And so as a free agent, he had choices and signed with the Jets because he remembered being encouraged by one of their scouts.
"There were a couple other teams, the Steelers, Washington. But out of those guys, the relationship I had with that scout was really what sold me on going to the Jets," Cummings said. "The opportunity to get on the field coming in as an undrafted free agent, he just felt that the talents and the things that I had really put me in a good position to make the team and to be able to bring value in multiple levels."
Once with the Jets, Cummings would have to bring value while learning to play a different position. Not many 6-foot-3, 270-pounders are usually thought of as a tweener, but…
"I was a little too short for a defensive end in the league and I was a little too big for a linebacker. I couldn't get any taller, but I could lose some weight," Cummings laughed. "So they put me on a strict diet and got my weight down, and got my speed up a little bit. So that made transitioning to inside linebacker a little bit easier as far as the metrics go.
"But the position itself, it was a challenging transition. I was used to putting my hand in the dirt every play. And so to then hear, 'Hey, you've got to stand back here and cover a Danny Woodhead out of the backfield.' Good luck with that. There was a little bit of a learning curve, but it was an awesome experience."
Making the 53-man roster, Cummings was inactive for the season opener in Miami, waived a few days later, and then signed to the practice squad a day after New York's Week 2 game. Remaining on it for the rest of the season, he had the opportunity to develop skills as a linebacker and learn about life in the NFL with less pressure.
"Coming from a small school, it was very much a foreign place," Cummings said. "Being on the field was the same, but in that environment, there was definitely a learning curve. So I got to take a slower path to the NFL experience, and I think that when the time came to be on the active roster, that that time allowed me to grow into that role."
Cummings would continue to grow into that role the following season under a new head coach when Rex Ryan replaced Eric Mangini.
"I thought it was awesome," Cummings said. "Rex was a players' coach, and I loved that about him. He was hard-nosed. I would imagine that he probably picked up a lot of those traits from his dad, Buddy Ryan.
"I really enjoyed being able to play for Rex and his defensive mind ways of going about being a head coach. It wasn't always normal, that's for sure. He's got an orthodox way of coaching, but we had a good run."
After spending the first 10 weeks of the season on the practice squad, Cummings was put on the active roster in November and made his NFL debut in the Jets' Wild Card playoff game against the Bengals in Cincinnati.
"It was like everything was in slow motion. It was a playoff game, and in that environment, it was just old-school football," Cummings said. "It was probably one of the coldest games I have ever played in. It was windy. The crowd was wild. And to be in a playoff game, that experience was an aha moment."
Leading the Jets in tackles during the 2010 preseason, Cummings played in three regular-season games and was then back on the practice squad before Dallas signed him off of it in early December. A hard worker who continually proved himself just to stay on the team, he defied the odds.
"I came from a small town, went to a small school," Cummings said. "Playing in NFL was always a dream as a young boy running around playing football in the backyard. And you were told many times that it just doesn't happen to those types of people. It didn't happen to us. And being able to say, 'I did it,' that's a proud moment."
And doing so as a type 1 diabetic, Cummings became an inspiration.
"When I was diagnosed at 14 years old, my doctor told me I had to make a decision," he said. "'It is our professional opinion that in order for you to control your diabetes properly, you're not going to be able to play sports.'
"I remember looking at my dad and he said, 'What do you want to do? Do you want to play or do you want to give it up and follow what a doctor says?' And I said, 'Dad, I want to play.' And from that moment on, it was like, 'Alright, we've got to defy the odds and do the best we can with it.'
"During that time, it was very difficult to manage your diabetes. Technology just wasn't there. The medicine wasn't there. I don't think the know-how or the knowledge behind diabetes and how to manage it was really there. So it was a challenge."
Cummings continued. "Being able to make it into the NFL and be a type 1 diabetic and being able to manage that effectively, I think it definitely opened doors for kids who were going through that same moment where, what do we do?
"I've spoken with kids who were type 1 diabetic to just show them that this disease doesn't have to stop you. You can play at the highest level while still being a type 1 diabetic. It's going to take some work, it's going to take some discipline, but it doesn't have to stop you from doing what you want to do."
Following football, Cummings remained in Dallas and went back to college to finish his degree. He then asked himself, 'What's next?' And to his initial surprise, it turned out to be a career in sales.
"A fear of public speaking really got me," Cummings said. "And I had a mentor tell me, 'Hey, you want to get rid of that fear of speaking, go knock on 100 doors a day.' So I did that, and ended up being pretty good at it. I worked for a security company and figured out that we could probably do it a little bit better ourselves, and started our company back in 2013.
"I had a partner. I would sell the alarm security system, and then he would come behind me and do the install. We hired some friends, figured out a process, the model worked, and we grew. We're now the No. 7 ADT Authorized Dealer in the country."
The CEO of Revamped Home Security, which provides services for homes and businesses, Cummings has around 100 full-time employees with offices in Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Indiana.
"At this point, I get to teach others how to do it and I love it because it's a new challenge every day," Cummings said. "I think a sports mindset has definitely helped me be successful in this industry.
"Every day, you've got to come out and be your best. You've got to practice. You've got to work on your skills. A lot of the same discipline, things that I learned playing the game of football, easily transferred over to the business."
Making their home in suburban Dallas, Cummings and his wife, Camille, have three children: Lennon, Nathalie and Oliver.
