LSU Football: Derrius Guice will play in Citrus Bowl for Tigers
By Dana Becker
With the NFL Draft looming LSU football‘s starting running back Derrius Guice will play in the Tigers’ Citrus Bowl game against Notre Dame.
Derrius Guice isn’t even sure if he is entering the NFL Draft this season as a junior for LSU, but that hasn’t stopped many from believing he might skip the upcoming Citrus Bowl.
The Tigers are scheduled to play Notre Dame on January 1, and Guice is going to suit up.
ESPN’s Joel Anderson, a college football reporter, posted on Twitter that he “can’t believe Derrius Guice is going to play in the damn Citrus Bowl.” Guice wasted no time in responding:
https://twitter.com/DhaSickest/status/939281297612115970
In fact, he even went a step further when asked on social media if this meant he was tipping his cap towards returning for a senior season or heading to the NFL:
https://twitter.com/DhaSickest/status/939282555563593728
Last year, star LSU running back Leonard Fournette opted to not play in the postseason as a way to get himself healthy for the NFL. He was later joined by Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey in skipping the bowl seasons, with both going high in the draft.
So far, a handful of Texas players have come out and said they will not be competing in the postseason, as has Florida State star safety Derwin James.
Guice earned all-SEC first team status last year as a sophomore, replacing an injured Fournette and rushing for 1,387 yards – the fourth-most in a single-season at LSU. This year, he ran for 1,153 yards and scored 11 touchdowns in 11 games, earning a spot on the all-SEC second-team.
He started the year on a strong note, rushing for 122 yards vs. BYU and 102 against Chattanooga. Guice, though, wouldn’t go back over that mark until late in October when he ran for 276 in a win over Ole Miss.
Next: Post-Regular Season 2018 NFL Mock Draft
Guice closed the regular season with 147 yards vs. Arkansas, 97 vs. Tennessee and 127 vs. Texas A&M – all wins for LSU. In his Tiger career, Guice has racked up 2,976 yards, placing him fifth all-time. He is less than 900 yards shy of passing Fournette on the list.