While last week marked the Homecoming game for LSU, this weekend brings yet another homecoming to town.
Ole Miss junior running back and Baton Rouge native Brandon Bolden is returning to his hometown for the second time in his collegiate career.
But this time, he’ll enter Tiger Stadium as the Southeastern Conference’s fifth leading running back with 84 yards per game and looking to show off his skills in front of his loved ones.
“I got tons of family and friends and people in high school I haven’t seen since I left, and everybody said they’re coming to see the game,” Bolden said. “My family doesn’t get to travel to Oxford a lot and watch me play … so it would be real big to come away with a win.”
The Scotlandville High School alumnus finished his high school career as a Rivals.com three-star prospect and received offers from multiple schools in the South, including Alabama, Baylor, Southern Mississippi, Tulane and Vanderbilt.
Historically, LSU has done a nice job of harvesting the rich in-state talent and bringing in the best recruits Louisiana has to offer. But as LSU coach Les Miles explained, sometimes the local talent runs a little too deep.
“We absolutely took a look at [Bolden] and saw that he had real talent,” Miles said. “It’s difficult not being able to recruit all of the very good players in this state. Certainly, Bolden is good enough to play SEC football.”
Bolden said LSU was on his watch list as soon as he realized he had potential to play college football. But the “family atmosphere” of Ole Miss and the thought of early playing time were the biggest factors in his decision.
“[Former LSU coach Larry] Porter actually came to Scotlandville and told me that if I were to come to LSU I would have to be redshirted and sign as a safety, and I would end up playing running back my redshirt freshman year,” Bolden said. “[Ole Miss] felt like a good fit and I didn’t have to be redshirted. I could play right away, so I came here.”
In his first year at Ole Miss, Bolden played in 13 games and finished second on the team with five rushing touchdowns, including one against LSU, and third on the team in rushing yards with 542 yards.
Bolden will enter this year’s LSU game as the Rebel’s leading rusher with 840 yards and 11 touchdowns but said he doesn’t look at his return home as a revenge game, calling “just another football game.”
Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt agreed and said Bolden’s preparation for the game doesn’t seem any different than a normal work week.
“Brandon always practices hard,” Nutt said. “The thing about Brandon is he attacks practice the right way every single day with tremendous attitude and works hard.”
But Nutt said Bolden always looks forward to the LSU contest each year because he gets to see a little piece of home.
“[Brandon] always looks forward to going back because naturally that’s his home state and he’s going to have a lot of family and friends there,” Nutt said. “He’s excited about seeing family. That’s the biggest thing.”
Bolden said he’s thrilled to return home, and there’s one thing he has to do before he leaves.
“I’ve got to get some boudin balls. I’ve got to,” Bolden laughed. “It’s one of the first things I get as soon as the game’s over with [and] before we get on the bus.”
But Bolden won’t keep the all to himself.
“[I’ll share] a few of them,” he said. “A couple guys have never heard of boudin balls, and they want to know what it is. I don’t have a problem with sharing because my grandmother usually gets me some, and she gets a lot.”
 
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Contact Mark Clements at [email protected]