BATON ROUGE, La. — When Derrius Guice ran with the football as a true freshman for LSU, he charged through defenders with a purpose, seemingly refusing to go down.

Guice didn’t just run hard, he ran with passion, like the play against South Carolina where he shed four tackles to turn a loss into a 25-yard gain.

What inspired that style of running from one of the better freshmen running backs in the country last year?

“That has to be my style (of running),” said Guice on Friday during his first interview of fall camp, “if I’m going to play.”

Pure desperation to find a way on the field is what drove the local product from Baton Rouge’s Catholic High — the same school that produced Warrick Dunn and Travis Minor — to put together runs that had many thinking he was one of the top freshmen running backs in the country despite a secondary role on his own team.

Certainly, the numbers back it. Although he only carried the ball 51 times — there were only so many carries one would get playing behind Heisman Trophy candidate Leonard Fournette — he gained 436 rushing yards and averaged two yards per carry more — 8.5 vs. 6.5 — than Fournette.

Watch him run, and it’s obvious he’s no overachiever. At 5-foot-11 and around 222 pounds, he has the low center of gravity that allows him to get under the pads of tacklers like he did on the highlight reel run against the Gamecocks. But he also has a burst that allows him to run away from defenders once he breaks the tackle.

He was so good, he’s one of our top 10 backs in the SEC for this season even though he hasn’t started for the Tigers and isn’t projected to start this year. Perhaps if he hadn’t gone to his hometown school to play behind Fournette, he’d have been able to establish himself as a superstar as a freshman.

“I hear it all the time,” he said. “It doesn’t really bother me. I’m here. I want to be here. And I’m glad I’m in the position that I’m in because I’m learning from one of the best.”

That’s an attitude he hasn’t always had. In fact, in high school just the opposite approach got him in some trouble and had many wondering if he had the character it would take to persevere in the dog-eat-dog world of the SEC.

Before his senior year at Catholic, he was suspended from the team during the spring for an attitude that is far unlike the do-what-it-takes-to-play approach he touts now as a college sophomore. He was punished for consistently blowing off team rules.

“I’ve changed a lot (since then),” Guice admits. “Last time I was at Catholic was two years ago. Ever since then, I had to realize everything didn’t center around me. Being late for everything, thinking things came on my time, that’s why I got suspended because I had to learn that on a team, there’s no ‘I.'”

Guice was only human to think that his talent could allow him to cut corners in high school, where his strength and superior speed made him a dominant force, even in Louisiana’s competitive Class 5A.

But he quickly figured out when coming to LSU as part of a recruiting class that also featured another highly touted Baton Rouge prep running back, Nick Brossette from University Lab, that those days were over. Already on campus were Fournette and hard-running veteran Darrel Williams.

“In college, there was going to be no big man on campus,” he said. “Everybody has to do the things it takes to get on the field.”

The biggest example of that came from the player he was coming to LSU to back up.

“Leonard is a great leader, a great role model,” he said of Fournette. “And you can tell he’s way more mature than he’s been.

“Everybody respects him, and they listen to him because they respect him.”

At Friday’s practice, Guice said that when the oppression of a particularly hot Louisiana day led to some sloppy repetitions, it was Fournette’s booming voice that brought the players back to life and got the reps back to where they needed to be.

“That’s why I came here,” he said. “To play with the best and learn.”

The guy who was called out for taking things for granted in high school has come a long way, indeed. These days, he’ll do whatever it takes to succeed, including waiting his turn.