Stampede Bonus: Only Lee Roy Selmon Jr. Days Until USF Football Season

(I had already written this up as our #93 entry before I realized Daniel Awoleke was back for another year of eligibility. But I couldn't let this post go. If you're familiar with this series, sometimes we tell stories of USF games and players of the past on the way from 99 to 1. So we'll call this the first Stampede Bonus for 2016.)

#93 NT Lee Roy Selmon Jr.
1999-2004, 5'11", 280 lbs.

Career Stats: Selmon played in 37 games at USF, finishing with a total of 170 tackles, 23 TFL, seven sacks and 31 quarterback hurries. He missed two entire seasons during his career due to injury. Selmon tore his MCL in the runup to the 2001 season and had to sit the year out. The next year, he tore his ACL playing pickup basketball and missed the 2002 season. The NCAA granted him a sixth year of eligibility, making him (we think) the first USF football player to ever get one.

How He Came To USF: Selmon only played one year of football at Tampa's Sickles High School, but he made it count with 71 tackles, 14 TFL and 3.5 sacks. Since his father blazed the trail for USF football and later because athletic director, it was only natural for Lee Roy Jr. to end up playing here.

Recruiting Rankings: Unknown. No one's recruiting archives go that far back and no one gave I-AA teams class rankings then.

His Best Game: October 31, 2003, against Cincinnati. We haven't talked very much about the 2003 team. It was a really weird season. USF moved up into Conference USA and finished 7-4, but didn't look anything like the 2002 team that went 9-2 and should have gone bowling. Ronnie Banks couldn't fill Marquel Blackwell's shoes and the offense sputtered. God only knows where the Bulls would have been without RB/WR/QB/PR/KR Brian Fisher.

On Halloween night, the Bearcats visited Tampa and combined with USF to set football back about 25 years. The Bulls couldn't move the ball or keep the ball. Their only touchdown in regulation came on an improbable Pat Julmiste rainbow to Elgin Hicks. Fortunately the defense kept USF in it with stout run defense, led by Selmon's career-high 11 tackles. When Huey Whittaker blocked a would-be game-winning Cincinnati field goal with four seconds left, the game trudged into overtime tied at 10.

Both teams scored touchdowns in the first overtime. In the second overtime, DeJuan Green bounced a run outside, broke about five tackles and swan-dived over the pylon to give USF a 24-17 lead. Cincinnati tried to answer, but after the Bearcats picked up a first down, quarterback Gino Guidugli rolled right and tried to dump the ball off to running back Richard Hall. It skipped off his hands and into the hands of Selmon, who pulled it in and got a foot inbounds. Game over.

(You can watch the entire game below if you dare, or skip ahead to 2:24:09 for Selmon's game-winning interception.)