Selvie remains a Bull

The South Florida defense will lose seven major contributors from its fall team. However,  its former All-American defensive end will return.

Junior George Selvie said Wednesday that he will not opt to enter the NFL draft and will return for his senior season.

Selvie, who had 43 tackles in the fall, chose to return to school next year because the NFL’s advisory committee told him he might not be selected in the first three rounds of the draft.

“I guess I just wasn’t going to go as high as I thought I would,” Selvie said. “I’m just going to focus now on getting bigger and stronger and even better, so that way I can prepare myself for my senior year.”

Selvie stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 245 pounds — greatly undersized by NFL defensive linemen — and he said his main focus is to add weight in the offseason.

“I definitely need to get bigger and work on other stuff in my game,” he said. “I’m definitely looking forward to this season.”

The Pensacola native said he took out insurance from the NCAA before the 2008 season to ensure his protection in case of a serious injury, and he will be covered for 2009 as well.

“I made sure I took the right precautions in case anything would happen,” he said.

Selvie will probably be the focal point of a USF defense that has lost many components from last year’s team. The junior said because of that, he’ll be taking on a much larger role in leadership.

“(Coaches) always wanted me to be vocal, and I usually had the seniors to rely on for that,” he said. “Now, I’m that senior. It’s going to be hard to transition, but I’m going to try and make sure everyone works hard and plays right. I know this year I’m going to be more vocal.”