Former USF Defensive End George Selvie Ranked Among the Best College Defenders of the 21st Century, According to ESPN

Former South Florida Bulls star defensive tackle George Selvie checked in at number 45 in ESPN’s Bill Connelly’s list of the top 80 college defenders since 2000.

Selvie was a dominant force along the defensive line during his career at USF, but he made a name for himself during the 2007 season which saw the Bulls get ranked number 2 in the nation. He led the nation in tackles-for-loss with 31.5, and added 14.5 sacks to go along with it.

The Pensacola native finished his career with the Bulls as the only two-time, first-team all-American (2007, 2008) selection in program history. He recorded 69.5 career TFL, and 29 career sacks, and nine career forced fumbles—all are still program records.

Selvie was the 2007 Big East Defensive Player of the Year, and was a finalist for the Bronco Nagurski Trophy that same year. He was a first team all-Big East selection three times as well.

Selvie ranked ahead of Ohio State DE Joey Bosa, FSU DT Broderick Bunkley, LSU CB Patrick Peterson, Oklahoma DT Gerald McCoy among others.

Ankle injuries and constant double, and triple teams hampered him his senior year, but along with Jason Pierre-Paul, they combined for one of the most fearsome bookends in college football. Christian Ponder still has nightmares about them.

Selvie was taken in the seventh round of the 2010 NFL Draft by the then St. Louis Rams. He bounced around between the Rams, Carolina Panthers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Dallas Cowboys, and New York Giants.

He found his most success during his two year stint with the Cowboys where he recorded ten of his 14 career sacks, including a career-high seven sacks in 2013.

To this day, Selvie still finds pieces of former North Carolina quarterback T.J. Yates between his teeth.