LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- They share a first name and his mother loved them both, but that's about all Louisville defensive end Elvis Dumervil knows he has in common with the King of Rock 'n' Roll.

"Elvis Presley did great over history playing music," said Dumervil. "I'm just a football player."

And these days, it's Louisville's Elvis who's making all the records.

On Sept. 4, a 6-foot, 256-pound Miami native set a single-game school and Big East mark with six sacks in Louisville's opening 31-24 win at Kentucky. He added three more in last week's 63-27 victory against Oregon State, setting an NCAA record with nine sacks in consecutive games.

"I worked hard, extremely hard, over the summer so that I could come out and have a good senior season," he said. "I came in with a lot of confidence and it's just been a great start."

Dumervil leads ninth-ranked Louisville (2-0) with 13 solo tackles and four forced fumbles heading into the Big East opener yesterday at South Florida (2-1). He has been named the league's defensive player of the week twice.

"It's hard to explain how well he's played," said Louisville coach Bobby Petrino. "He just keeps going. I hope he can keep it up."

Petrino said Dumervil has learned how to use his unusually long arms, low center of gravity and quick first step to beat any offensive lineman who stands in his way -- including the ones on his own team.

"In practice, you can hear them saying, 'Oh, no, I've got to block him again,' " Petrino said.

With his fast start, Dumervil has charged up to seventh on Louisville's all-time sacks list. He needs only five more to crack the top five and if he maintains his freakish 4.5-sacks per game average, he'll be the school's all-time leader by November.

"I'm hungry and I'm going to stay hungry. I'm not the kind of guy who gets complacent," he said.

That attitude comes from his upbringing.

Dumervil grew up in a packed house with seven half- or full brothers, all groomed to be football players by a disciplinarian father, Frank Gachelin, a former Marine.

The clan also included Elvis' older brother, former Syracuse linebacker James Dumervil; former Syracuse defensive lineman Louis Gachelin and former Louisville safety Curry Burns.

"Everything was a competition," Dumervil said. "Monopoly, everything. I really never had friends because I had so many brothers. It was a great deal at home. I never had to leave."

Dumervil picked up football in first grade, playing in the street with his brothers and others from dawn to dusk on weekends.

Back then, Dumervil's specialty was catching passes, not pressuring quarterbacks.

"I was the best receiver around the neighborhood," he said.

But he got too big to play wideout and by high school, he was playing linebacker and modeling his game after NFL star Derrick Thomas, another Miami native, who recorded 126.5 sacks in his 11-year pro career.

Thomas died of injuries suffered in a car accident in 2000 and was elected to the Hall of Fame a year later.

Dumervil wears the former Kansas City Chief's No. 58.

"He was the perfect defensive player," Dumervil said. "He played with great energy and attitude."

Now, Petrino is seeing those characteristics in Elvis. He said Dumervil provided the emotional spark when the Cardinals rallied from an early 10-0 deficit against the Beavers.

"He did an excellent job and brought so much energy to our sideline," Petrino said.

"Besides what he did on the field, he really did a good job of leading us on and off the field."

First Published: September 25, 2005, 4:00 a.m.