Six years ago, defensive end George Selvie seemed destined for stardom. As a sophomore at South Florida, Selvie had 14.5 sacks and 31.5 tackles for loss, making him the Big East Defensive Player of the Year.
Selvie’s numbers dropped the next two years, as teams worked extra hard to keep him from wreaking havoc.
The end result was an unimpressed NFL; Selvie slipped to round seven in 2010, and he has bounced around the league ever since, from the Rams to the Panthers to the Jaguars to the Buccaneers.
Signed by the Cowboys after a rash of injuries early in training camp, Selvie could be finding his groove in Monte Kiffin’s defense. At practice on Thursday, Selvie raised eyebrows with a pair of sacks.
“That’s rare,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said. “It is a plus. It’s hard to find guys who can come in off the street and do the job.”
Selvie has added to that paid of sacks by getting a pair of sacks in Sunday night’s game against the Dolphins. The second sack came via a bull-rush mauling of Dolphins left tackle Dallas Thomas.
“George is another guy who has been tutored by Rod Marinelli, and he’s going to benefit from playing in this style of defense,” NBC’s Tony Dungy said after Selvie put Thomas on his butt and wrapped up quarterback Pat Devlin.
Selvie, who has three career sacks in 32 regular-season games, has a long way to go to make it to the 53-man roster. But there’s not much more he can do than make sacks in practice and in games.
So far, he’s doing it.