LSU's Hester has burning love for football, Elvis

Jacob Hester prefers a little less conversation and a lot more football. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

NEW ORLEANS - Louisiana State has been waiting since Dec. 1 to play in tonight's Bowl Championship Series title game against Ohio State, but Jacob Hester wouldn't mind waiting one more day.

"Then I could celebrate both," he says.

Tomorrow is Elvis's birthday.

Jacob Hester, age 22, is a certified Elvis Presley freak.

There was music in his house back in Shreveport, La. The music very often was Elvis, and it took.

Hester has been to Graceland eight times and gave serious thought to making it nine over the Christmas break.

His favorite thing?

"I guess I'd have to say the cars," reports the senior fullback. "I love 'em all, from the pink Cadillac to the golf cart."

Hester says his wife has indulged him to the point of allowing an entire Elvis room in his house. Hester has all sorts of memorabilia, his favorite a 2-foot bust of The King.

The movies?

He's seen 'em all, his favorite, "Viva Las Vegas," which co-stars the fetching Ann-Margret, and whose title song is one of Elvis's most underrated efforts. "I agree with you," Hester says. "And there are at least five great songs in that movie."

OK, now where were we? Oh, yeah, football. There are millions of Elvis enthusiasts out there, but you can be sure none of the others can play football like Jacob Hester.

LSU is renowned for having an abundance of running backs, but everyone knows who the best is: Hester.

"He is really the character of their football team," saluted Ohio State linebacker James Laurinaitis. "They rely on him heavily. He's their most versatile guy. When they need a first down, when it's third and 1 or third and 2, he's in there."

Hester's numbers are good but not astronomical. He had 1,017 net yards, averaged 5 yards a carry, and had 11 touchdowns. But there's something about the way he gets those yards that excites people. This young man runs with a purpose.

He is not your ordinary college running back. He is a football player's football player. May we assume that not many big-time college RBs ever have spent any time at nose tackle?

Back at legendary Evangel Christian High in Shreveport, Hester did just that.

"In high school we really needed some defensive linemen," he says. "And we passed the ball so much, having [USC's] John David Booty as our quarterback, that running backs never got the ball. So I played nose guard.

"But one day a couple of guys got hurt. And my offensive coordinator, who is now my father-in-law, put me in the game at running back. I had 200 yards, and they told the defensive coordinator, 'I think our best player on offense is playing nose guard.' "

Hester is as surprised as anyone to be playing in the BCS championship game tonight. He surely wasn't thinking in those terms when his team lost to Arkansas in triple overtime, marking its second triple-OT loss of the season. Two-loss teams don't usually wind up playing for the national championship.

"But my brother is a sports guru, and he had it all figured out by the time we got off the field that if this happened and that happened we'd still have a shot," Hester says. "And he was right."

Hester marvels over the wackiness of the 2007 season.

"Every week you'd see a score nobody could believe," he says. "It was the craziest college football season I've ever seen."

Hester was recruited as a fullback, which was OK except for the fact that he didn't even know what it was. "You have to understand," he explains. "At Evangel, we had four wides and a shotgun. How could I know what a fullback was?"

Anyway, one thing led to another at LSU, and now he's a full-fledged running back and something of a folk hero. People just love the whole package. They know about the Elvis fixation, and they just love the way Jacob Hester plays football.

But who doesn't?

"The guy's a workhorse," says Tigers center Brett Helms. "As an offensive lineman, that's the type of guy you like to see. He never takes plays off, he gives his all, he has great vision, and he hardly ever misses cuts. We love the physical way he plays. He doesn't run out of bounds.

"His actions speak for themselves," agrees tackle Ciron Black. "I mean, he runs the ball hard. Every single play, hurt, anything. Whatever the coach asks him, he does it. You have to respect that about him."

OK, enough of that football stuff. Let's get back to Elvis.

Top 5 Elvis songs?

"My favorite is, 'If I Can Dream.' Then, I'd say, 'Heartbreak Hotel.' You know, I really like this question. OK, next is 'Suspicious Minds.' Then 'Jailhouse Rock.' And 'Crying In The Chapel.' "

I tell him my favorite is "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You." "We played that at the wedding," he beams.

It's kind of a Hester family thing. His brother is into Elvis, too.

"I like Young Elvis, Old Elvis, Skinny Elvis, Fat Elvis," Hester says. "My brother likes Fat Elvis."

OK, the jackpot question: Does Jacob Hester do an Elvis impression?

"No," he says. "My wife would kill me."

He'll settle for doing his best impression of a running back against Ohio State tonight. He will, of course, relax before the game by listening to an Elvis CD.

After all, in terms of winning a national championship, It's Now or Never.

Bob Ryan is a Globe columnist. His e-mail address is ryan@globe.com.