Dumervil Wins Hendricks Award
December 20, 2005 | Football
Dec. 20, 2005
Chicago, Ill. - Louisville senior defensive end Elvis Dumervil was named the winner of the 2005 Ted Hendricks College Defensive End of the Year Award today by the Ted Hendricks Foundation. Dumervil is the honored recipient of the 2005 Hendricks Award for his outstanding on field performance, leadership abilities and contributions to school and community. Elvis Dumervil will be honored at a later date to be announced. Dumervil is just five sacks away from breaking Terrell Suggs' NCAA record (24), set in 2002. Suggs, who was the 2002 winner of the Hendricks Award, needed 14 games to reach that number. Dumervil has now recorded a career total of 32 sacks, which ranks him 6th all-time in NCAA Division 1-A play. He also ranked second in the nation this season in tackles-for-loss with 2.09 per game (23 TFL for 175 yards - U of L stats). He has been honored with the 2005 Bronko Nagurski Award by The Football Writers Association of America and the Charlotte Touchdown Club. The Nagurski Award is presented annually to college football's national defensive player of the year. Dumervil was also named to the 2005 AFCA All-America team, and won the Big East award for Defensive Player of the Year. Elvis Dumervil is a perfect example of the current trend at defensive end on the collegiate level: downsizing. Despite being considered small in stature by traditional standards (6-feet, 250 pounds), some consider the Louisville senior to be the most destructive defensive end in college football this season. There is no doubt he has had a remarkable season, and has the records to prove it. His six sacks against Kentucky (September 4th) established a new single game NCAA record, and his total of nine sacks over a two-game stretch (Kentucky and Oregon State) now stand atop the NCAA record book. Dumervil has also recorded 11 forced fumbles, which eclipsed the old NCAA record of eight (set by Dwight Freeney of Syracuse and Quintin Mikell of Boise State). Additionally, his average of 1.0 forced fumbles per game in a season sets a new NCAA record (University of Louisville statistics).
Commenting on the winner, Ted said he admires Elvis's ability to use his reach to take down his opponents and cause turnovers. Hendricks also commented that "Elvis displays an enthusiasm for the game and a gift for going for the ball found in the truly great players."
The other finalists for the award included Mississippi State's Willie Evans, Penn State's Tamba Hali, Boston College's Mathias Kiwanuka, Rutger's Ryan Neill and Virginia Tech's Darryl Tapp. Dumervil won in a vote of media and coaches.
On-field performance, leadership abilities and contributions to school and community are some of the criteria used to determine the award winner. The candidates may represent any class (freshman through senior) as well as any recognized four-year NCAA member school (Division I through Division III). Leading college coaches, former players and coaches, media members and pro football personnel professionals voted in this year's selection process.
Former Hendricks Award winners: David Pollack, University of Georgia defensive end named winner of the 2003 and 2004 Ted Hendricks College Defensive End of the Year Award by the Ted Hendricks Foundation. Terrell Suggs, Arizona State University defensive end named winner of the 2002 Hendricks Award and both were first round picks in the 2003 National Football League draft.
