When Ole Miss and LSU take the field Saturday night, the two teams will be playing for more than just a rivalry. Multiple Louisianians will be squaring off against each other in Death Valley for bragging rights.The LSU roster is filled with players from all across the state, but many of Ole Miss’ players come from Louisiana.Louisiana natives have always been scattered across the Ole Miss roster, and this year is no different. Ole Miss has 14 players on its roster from Louisiana, including five starters.One of the Rebels’ running backs, freshman Brandon Bolden, is a Baton Rouge native and played football at Scotlandville High School. Bolden said he loves the amount of Louisiana players on the team because it makes the adjustment easier.”There’s not that big meet-and-greet thing because everybody’s almost where you’re from,” Bolden said. “Just being from the same state, you can compare a lot, so it’s kind of like you already knew them when you first got here.”Bolden even runs behind a former high school teammate, Ole Miss junior Daverin Geralds, who starts at center for the Rebels. He said Saturday’s game against LSU will be a good opportunity for players like him to get a good look at Ole Miss.”It should actually help playing [in Baton Rouge],” Bolden said. “There’s a lot of players who can stay in Louisiana to see that game and see both [teams] and make their own decision. I think it will be a great stage for them just to see how the Rebels play.”Most Louisiana natives on the Ole Miss team were either low-profile high school football prospects, like Bolden and junior cornerback Marshay Green, or players who were ranked highly but didn’t receive a scholarship offer from LSU, like Ole Miss defensive end Kentrell Lockett who was a four-star prospect from Hahnville. Like Bolden, many have been able to contribute faster than their prospect rating would have foretold.Bolden was rated as a three-star running back by Rivals.com and was offered a scholarship by only two SEC schools, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt, after rushing for 866 yards in eight games for Scotlandville in his senior season.”We knew Brandon was a good high school football player,” said Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt. “You just never know until you get here on campus exactly how mature or how he’s going to handle the playbook, all these things that are away from home for the first time.”Nutt said he could tell once two-a-days started Bolden was going to be a player who could play and contribute early on.”We always feel like there’s going to be six, seven or eight guys that are going to play as true freshman,” Nutt said.  “And Brandon, physically, we knew he was ready and mentally very tough.”—-Contact Tyler Harvey at [email protected]