This article is part of the Reveille’s LSU football preview coverage. Read all of it here.

Odds are, Caden Durham is going to score a lot of touchdowns for LSU this year.

He’s slated as the lead running back for a team that badly wants to run the ball more and lost two running backs to legal troubles during the offseason. After a standout freshman year with 1,000 total yards and eight touchdowns, LSU will lean on him heavily to punch in points.

But his mom, Staneshia Bell, won’t even see all of those scores.

“People don’t know, but at the games I am so nervous,” Bell said. “Some of his touchdowns I don’t even see because I have my head down.”

It isn’t because she hasn’t seen him do great things or overcome hardships before. In fact, the challenge of the upcoming season is just another hurdle for Durham. He grew up a dual-sport athlete and is known for putting in the work.

He’s originally from Oklahoma, where Bell settled after becoming an All-American for Oklahoma’s track team, but he moved to Duncanville prior to his sophomore year of high school.

Bell said the move to the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex area was difficult at first. Despite the early woes, Durham eventually eased into it ahead of his sophomore year at Duncanville High School.

The transition came with its challenges, as Duncanville is one of the largest schools in Texas. The 6A school has over 4,500 students enrolled and is no stranger to athletic talent.

“It was a mini college,” Bell said.

When they first moved, Bell thought her son would have to start all over, but like the hard worker he is, he “pushed his way up to the starting position.” He was the backup behind an outgoing senior, but it wasn’t a surprise to see him rise to the occasion, even while balancing being one of the best track athletes in the state.

As a dual-sport athlete, people around the school knew Durham was fast. Durham often joked with Jay Cosme, a teacher and basketball coach at Duncanville, and hounded him to race him.

Cosme would always turn it down — he didn’t want Durham to have a freak accident in the middle of football season. One day, Durham finally convinced him, and ironically, a Durham slip led to Cosme winning the race.

“We have this inside joke where I tell him I still have four years of eligibility left, so tell coach [Brian Kelly] we can be the best running back duo in the country,” Cosme said with a laugh.

“There’s no way I’m faster than him,” Cosme admits.

Despite not coaching him directly, Cosme said it was easy to see his “infectious personality.” He described it as a switch he flips.

“Off the field he’s joking, he’s laughing, he has this energetic personality,” Cosme said. “The moment he steps on that football field, he turns into a superhuman.”

How his work ethic sets him apart

Former Duncanville track and field coach Clayton Brookins has known Durham since he was just 9 years old. Brookins considers Durham to be “an additional son” and had no doubts he’d become a star at Duncanville and at LSU, in whatever sport he wanted.

At Duncanville, Durham’s training in track and field correlated well with what he was trying to achieve on the football field. He was dedicated to the lifting and speed-enhancing workouts.

Many of his football teammates and other incoming Duncanville athletes saw Durham win on both fields — and they still look up to him now. Brookins said many players come through with the desire to work hard in a similar fashion to Durham. He added that Durham equally poured into both sports, which is why he was so successful.

“There’s a reason that track is around the football field,” Brookins said. “You gotta cross the track before you hit the football field, and he is the first guy I talk about as far as doing that. He’s the perfect kid to have the mindset to embrace it and actually put it to work.”

The work ethic he demonstrated as a dual-sport student athlete was a true testament to his athletic dedication, Brookins said. The motto Brookins always shares with his athletes is “work before play,” and he said Durham is a clear-cut example of what it means to have that balance.

“He knew when it was time to be serious,” Brookins said. “He could flip that switch, and he was a leader. As he went, the team went — he was that guy.”

On the flip side, Durham brings the energy. Brookins said he would always “fire the guys up and joke around.” He appreciated this quality of Durham’s because he’d calm the team’s nerves and ease the tension, and he’d also know when to crack a joke and mess around.

What family means to his athletic success

Whether he’s running around the track or rushing the football field, his support system has always been the same: his family. Durham’s a big family guy, and Brookins labeled him “a mama’s boy.”

“He was always a ‘no, sir, yes, sir’ kid,” Brookins said. “In this day and age, that’s kind of rare. I was always impressed by his upbringing from his mom and dad.”

Before Durham arrived at LSU, he led Duncanville football to back-to-back state championships in his junior and senior years. In his final game for Duncanville, he led the way with over 200 yards in just the first half and finished with three touchdowns to win the state title.

But that huge performance had a motivating factor behind it. Durham shared a special bond with his grandmother, and ahead of that state championship game, he got a call that almost kept him off the field. His grandmother was sick, and Durham’s mom said it took a huge toll on him.

“His grandma told him, ‘Hey, go out there and do what you do,’” Bell said.

His grandma ended up passing away in February 2024, but Durham keeps her and his other late grandma close with him at LSU. He writes both of their names on his wrist wrap as motivation because he wants to make them proud, Bell said.

Durham’s family-first mentality goes beyond that, though. He lives with his older brother and spoils his 12-year-old sister, the baby of the family.

“They FaceTime each other every single day,” Bell said with a laugh. “Not a day goes by that we don’t or they don’t talk on the phone.”

All eyes are on Durham for his sophomore season, including his family’s. His mom knows he’s got a lot to prove, and a lot is expected of him. No matter what, though, she said “it’s a dream come true” for her boy to be competing with the Tigers.

“Watching him from a young boy to now, I’m just thrilled,” Bell said. “I can’t believe it. His dedication, his passion for the sports; he’s grown up a lot since he’s been at LSU.”