Southern University’s Selders happy to play without pain

Junior defensive tackle Joseph Selders is the strongest player on the Southern football team.
But that bench-press total of 505 pounds — and he says he felt he could have put up 520 or so — means little if the knees aren’t healthy enough to keep that powerful torso on the field.

That’s why Selders, who has had two knee operations since he came to campus in 2004, is so happy these days. His knees could be in the best shape they’ve seen since he was a schoolboy star at Northeast High.

“I have a lot more confidence to do what I have to do, not worrying about pain or hurting or getting hit on my knee,” Selders said. “I’m just doing my job, reacting, just playing.”
When Selders is on the field, he’s been effective, totaling 27 tackles and four sacks last season and 21 tackles and two sacks as a redshirt freshman in 2005.

However, he was limited to nine games and had to have surgery on the left knee in the middle of last season (missing the games, of course, but also curtailing his effectiveness) and got in eight (of nine) games in ’05. He had the right knee worked on during camp as a freshman.

“It seems like those knees are fine now,” Southern coach Pete Richardson said. “He’s finally got to where he can get through without those knee braces. Now it’s just a matter of concentration and getting ready to go.”

“This is the best I’ve felt going into a season since I’ve been here,” Selders said. “I’m pretty much at 100 percent.”

Though line play may look like a standoff of big guys, sumos locked hand in hand, quickness is a vital factor. That’s what made SU standouts like Demarcus Miller and Perry Davis so effective. And that’s what Selders, a four-year starter at fullback at Northeast as well, can showcase better now that he’s full go.

“Just looking at him, it would fool you, because he can really run for his size,” Geralds said. “He’s really quick. He has great technique. He’s very conscientious of his technique, which makes him a better player. He’s got quick hands. He’s got quick feet. He comes off the ball well, and that’s the main thing for a defensive lineman. If he can cause havoc at the line of scrimmage, then it makes it easier for the linebackers and the rest of the team.”

With the knees feeling good, Selders concentrated on getting the weight down during the summer. He had gotten to 317 pounds on his 6-foot-2 frame.So, Selders, who has the kind of easy-going, likeable demeanor and possibly the work ethic you might expect from a kid from tiny Baywood — “150, 160 people. One grocery story, no street lights, real country. Everybody knows everybody,” he said — went to work.

Now, Selders is at 289, which he said is “the lightest I’ve been since I came here.”
“Getting down was what he really needed, to take some of the pressure off his knees, where he can really get around better and he’s not having all these injuries or things that were slowing him down the last couple years,” Geralds said.

The significance of all this physical improvement — getting the knees healthy again, getting stronger and getting rid of the weight — goes deeper when Southern’s attrition is factored. The Jaguars lost four defensive linemen since the spring. Instead of being a deep unit, nearly half of the group is formed by five freshmen, and most of those are ends. Selders, sophomore Dwayne Charles and junior Frank Harry, a South Florida transfer, are the top tackles.

“My main thing is conditioning,” Selders said. “We’re thin on the depth chart. I’m going to have to play a lot more plays.”

Being in better shape, then, will help not just the knees, but the wind.
“Now he’s in better condition where he can (get in more plays),” Geralds said.
And having a shorter depth chart means more reps and more weight coming off.
“He’s going to have a chance, because of the depth,” said Richardson, who said Selders already had dropped “6 or 7” pounds (Friday).

The lack of depth, however, doesn’t worry Selders.

“We have a lot more chemistry as a team and as a defense,” Selders said.
Plus, Selders is in much better shape to be the playmaking factor coaches have always envisioned.

By Joseph Schiefelbein, Advocate sportswriter