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National Football League
Draft King Analysis
June 18, 2008
Lou Pickney, DraftKing.com
Reader feedback is always welcomed here at DraftKing.com. Send your thoughts to me at LouPickney@gmail.com.
How about this for news: according to Adam Schefter of NFL Network, Adam Jones no longer wants to be referred to as "Pacman". I guess that means his Wikipedia page will need to be renamed.
It always intrigued me with the Titans that his jersey had the name "P. Jones" on the back, though we almost for sure won't see an "A. Jones" for him in Dallas, as the NFL began phasing out the first initial (or, in rare occasions, the entire first name) on the back of team jerseys. It wasn't like the XFL where players had nicknames on their name plate area, but it was an anomoly that probably would be better explained on uniwatchblog.com.
Whatever the case, it appears that Adam Jones is trying to improve his public image, likely at the behest of advisors who realize that such a move might endear him more to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Either that or Jerry Jones secretly made him agree to it because of fears of Namco suing for royalties for anything with the term Pacman or Pac-Man on it.
 | USF's George Selvie is a very talented DE. (Icon SMI)
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One of the great stories of the last college football season is one that went widely overlooked: the rise to prominence of the USF (South Florida) Bulls. The school, which is located in Tampa, only began its football program in 1997 and didn't become a Division I-A team until 2001. Incredibly, the team made it to #2 in the AP polls last year. #2 overall! Unfortunately for USF, the team hit the skids at that point, but to make it so far so quickly is quite an amazing thing.
Part of USF's success was due to the presence highly acclaimed defensive end George Selvie. A redshirt sophomore, Selvie came on strong and performed at a high level against some top-shelf competition. Despite playing in the competitive Big East, Selvie managed to record 31 1/2 tackles for a loss, which was #1 in the country. His 14 1/2 sacks were #2 nationally, behind only Indiana DE Greg Middleton.
Selvie earned Big East defensive POTY honors in 2007, and he is an early favorite to repeat in 2008. Selvie was also an All-American, the first ever from USF. Because he was three years removed from high school, Selvie could have jumped to the NFL. But Selvie opted to go back to USF for his junior season, and it will be quite interesting to see how he builds on his 2007 season this fall.
At 6'4" 240, Selvie has NFL quality size for defensive end. His speed is estimated in the 4.65-4.8 range, probably closer to the 4.70-4.72 part of that. Selvie has that great combination of size, speed, and awareness that should make him very dangerous in the NFL.
What is potentially frightening for the rest of the Big East is that Selvie could potentially return for his senior year in 2009. If he was impressive as a redshirt sophomore, imagine him with two more years under his belt.
Even though USF is in a BCS conference, and despite the presence of the school in a large media market -- particularly a southern large media market -- it's entirely possible that Selvie won't receive anywhere near the attention this fall that he'd get at a comparable school with a deeper tradition. The Tampa TV stations will cover him, believe me -- I worked as a news producer at the CBS affiliate in Tampa from 2001-2003, and even then the Bulls received their fair share of local coverage.
But the national media is another matter, and it's possible that Selvie won't receive the attention of someone like, say, Julius Peppers in his time at North Carolina. I'm not saying that Selvie will produce like Peppers has, but when it comes to hype, just don't be surprised if Selvie is overlooked when it comes to those pre-game show features.
But the scouts are watching closely, and it's them -- not the national media -- who will give their advice to the 32 NFL teams. And, if Selvie can produce even close to how he did in 2007, look for him to receive plenty of looks from the pro level. Right now I have him at #2 in my super-early 2009 NFL Mock Draft projection, but that's only because Atlanta likely wouldn't spend two top ten picks on defensive ends in three years; the Falcons took Arkansas DE Jamaal Anderson at #8 overall in the 2006 NFL Draft.
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