Perhaps the first of many premonitions of where LSU would be Monday – in New Orleans, playing for its fourth-ever national championship – came in JaCoby Stevens' front yard.
Some of the details foreshadowed in Stevens' youth – his frame and his position, most relevantly – didn't carry over, but the core of the dream that's set to come true on January 13th has survived the years.
"Growing up, I used to be outside, in front of the house, throwing the football to myself, imagining catching touchdown passes in the national championship game," Stevens says.