TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

USF's Selvie Wins Big East's Top Defensive Award

ADVERTISEMENT

By BRETT McMURPHY, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 6, 2007

Updated: 12/06/2007 12:17 am

LAKE BUENA VISTA - University of South Florida sophomore defensive end George Selvie took a quick glance around in disbelief.

"I look around and see Tim Tebow, Darren McFadden, Dennis Dixon and Chase Daniel," Selvie said. "And I can hardly believe I'm here with them."

Selvie belongs with the biggest names in college football, all right. Wednesday brought another example when Selvie was named the Big East's Defensive Player of the Year by the league's coaches.

"This was a pretty big surprise," Selvie said. "It's a great honor, but nothing I could have expected this year. It's just another great thing that's happened."

Selvie was among a gathering of college football's elite players at the ESPN Club at Walt Disney World's BoardWalk.

"This year with the way our team caught on fire in the beginning, our team got a lot of attention and that helped get me noticed," Selvie said.

Selvie certainly did his part. He leads the nation in tackles for loss (31 1/2 ) and needs only one tackle for loss in the Sun Bowl to break the NCAA record of 32, set by Western Michigan's Jason Babin in 2003.

"Someone mentions that to me nearly every day, but when I'm on the field I don't even know what a tackle for loss is," Selvie said. "If I get the record, fine, if I don't get the record and we win, that's fine."

Selvie, who is second nationally with 14 1/2 sacks, already has been named an All-American by the Football Writers Association of America and the American Football Coaches Association.

"It's great for George and it's great for the University of South Florida and our entire football team," USF coach Jim Leavitt said. "I think George will tell you that when he wins an award the University of South Florida wins an award. It's always that way."

Selvie was one of three Bulls earning first-team All-Big East honors along with senior linebacker Ben Moffitt and senior cornerback Mike Jenkins. Named second-team All-Big East was cornerback Trae Williams, linebacker Tyrone McKenzie and offensive guard Ryan Schmidt.

"The season didn't turn out how we wanted," Selvie said. "We wish could have played in the national championship game. We learned a big lesson. We want to go out with a bang in the Sun Bowl."

Staff writer Joey Johnston contributed to this report. Brett McMurphy can be reached at (813) 259-7928 or bmcmurphy@

tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT