By Kelly Whiteside, USA TODAY  NEW ORLEANS  LSU's most indispensable offensive player is not who you might expect.  Jacob Hester is not the fastest, shiftiest or flashiest of the Tigers' five running backs. He plays some fullback and campaigned to remain on four special teams even as LSU's primary tailback. His most memorable plays were, like him, the product of hard work and toughness. The fourth-down conversions and game-winning, 2-yard rush against Florida and the 1-yard game-winning burst against Alabama led to his legend.  He played nose guard for two years at Evangel Academy in Shreveport, La., because that's where his high school team needed him. He says when he signed with LSU as a "two-star recruit" he brought the ranking of his recruiting class down from No. 1 to No. 2.  Yet somehow, the once overlooked, old-school player who listens to Elvis before games became the Tigers' most valued player, leading the team this season in rushing (1,017) and all-purpose yards (1,123) and touchdowns (12).  Hester, a 6-0, 228-pound senior, not only is LSU's most versatile player but is also the most admired, trusted and respected by those who know him best.  •Senior quarterback Matt Flynn: "Jacob means everything to this team. … He can play any position. He'd play linebacker if you needed him to. Every time I look in the backfield and see him there, I feel a bit of security."  •Athletics director Skip Bertman: "I went up to Hester at the end of the last game and he had a cracked rib, his arm is wrapped and I said, 'It's an honor to watch you compete.' … The players who played with him will have respect for him the rest of their lives."  •Senior defensive end Kirston Pittman: "He doesn't appear to look like the feature back of a Division I-A school, and maybe that says a lot about (perception) and about the guy and his drive. A lot of people probably counted him out coming to a Division I school but he … became a legendary person here."  Hester has carried the ball 343 times at LSU and caught it 62. He has fumbled only three times in his football life.  "Once in middle school, once in my first start here … and in my last home game at Tiger Stadium," Hester says. "I only lost one in my career, my freshman year, but I haven't gotten over the last one (against Arkansas), even though we recovered it. It still eats at me."  Hester managed to get on the field quicker than any of his classmates his freshman year because he concentrated on details others overlooked. "I pride myself in doing the small things to try to get an edge over other players," he says.  After games he watches every run he makes, so he can get more of the tough yards next time. "Reading holes is really the thing I try to do the best, so I put in the time watching extra film," he says.  Nick Saban, then LSU's coach, briefly moved Hester to safety before Hester settled in at fullback for two years. He started 13 games as a junior at either fullback or tailback. Entering this season fans wondered if the Tigers could win with Hester as the featured back.  "Really my whole career, that's been the question: 'Is this really the guy?' … My whole career I've felt like I've had something to prove," Hester says.  The seemingly more talented and certainly more touted tailbacks — Keiland Williams, Charles Scott, Richard Murphy and Trindon Holliday — were thought to push Hester back to the fullback spot. It never happened. Hester had the ninth-best rushing total for a season in school history and became a folk hero in the state along the way.  "Everyone loves him," Flynn says. "And I think around Baton Rouge there's been a bigger popularity of Elvis this year, too. I think everyone is starting to listen to Elvis because of No. 18."  Elvis has his own room  So much talent at one position can be divisive. At LSU, the other talented backs complemented one another, giving the Tigers preposterous depth. A closeness developed, too. Every Thursday night Hester and his wife, Katie, got the tailbacks together for dinner, which helped bond an unselfish unit.  Last season, just minutes after the Tigers beat Arkansas in Little Rock, Hester proposed to his high school girlfriend, also a student at LSU, in the parking lot of War Memorial Stadium. The couple married this past summer and rent a small house just outside of Baton Rouge.  "My wife actually gave me a whole room in the house with nothing but Elvis in it. I have a bust of Elvis' head. My wife hates it, but it's up in the office," Hester says of all his memorabilia.  Even Hester's love for the King fits in perfectly with the not what you might expect theme; his favorite song is If I Can Dream. His musical taste, though, hasn't quite caught on with his teammates. "I've been trying to convert Flynn for four years and he won't give in," Hester says. "He listens to '80s hair bands, and I won't give in to that, either."  So is Elvis alive? Hester was asked during media day Saturday at Louisiana Superdome. "He's on an island somewhere. We just can't find him," Hester says, laughing. Then, fittingly enough, this LSU legend left the building.  Conversation guidelines: USA TODAY welcomes your thoughts, stories and information related to this article. Please stay on topic and be respectful of others. Keep the conversation appropriate for interested readers across the map.
LSU, with running back Jacob Hester among many playmakers, wants its second national title in five years. But Ohio State, featuring LB James Laurinaitis, has the nation's top defense. The Buckeyes are looking for their second title in six years.