Louisville football: 21st century All-Cardinal defensive team

At 5’11”, Elvis Dumervil’s speed and strength made him virtually unstoppable coming off the edge. Despite his size, he had quite a dominating presence that ball carriers would come to reckon with.

Armed with a sweeping swim move and a speedy swat technique, he was extremely effective off the edge as a pass rusher. Actually, one of his slight physical advantages, when coupled with his immense lower-body strength, was his undersized stature. It was due to his central, unwavering balance (and a surplus of leg day hours) that he was able to push back and evade offensive lineman play after play.

In 2004 he racked up 52 tackles (11.5 for a loss) and a team-high 10 sacks, but that was child’s play compared to his historic 2005 season. In ’05 Dumervil had one of the best seasons in NCAA history. When the Cards played Kentucky he broke the single-game sacks record (6) and forced fumbles record (2).

That season he was voted unanimously to the All-American team and was rewarded Big East Defensive Player of the Year, breaking the single-season conference sacks record, set by some random guy named Dwight Freeney. His 20.5 sacks in 2005 are still a U of L school record and his 10 forced fumbles that season are still the all-time record in NCAA history.