Football: Two players vie for SEC Championship in their own backyard

While Saturday's Southeastern Conference Championship will be important to every LSU football player, the game will be special for some players for a different reason.

Sophomore linebacker Kevin Minter and senior offensive lineman T-Bob Hebert will travel home to Atlanta this weekend with a chance to win the crown of college football's most heralded conference in front of their family and friends.

Minter racked up 404 tackles as a four-year starter at Peach Tree Ridge High School in Suwanee, Ga. He was selected First Team All-State in Class 5A as a senior. His prep performance garnered the No. 17 inside linebacker ranking by Rivals.

Hebert came out of Greater Atlanta Christian High School as Rivals.com's No. 2 center in the nation. His father, Bobby "The Cajun Cannon" Hebert, was a quarterback for both the New Orleans Saints and the Atlanta Falcons. The younger Hebert has already won an SEC ring in the Georgia Dome, when LSU defeated Tennessee, 21-14, in his 2007 redshirt season as a freshman.

Senior cornerback Ron Brooks knows how special it is to play such a big game in front of loved ones. A Dallas native, Brooks returned to his hometown during LSU's 40-27 season-opening romp of No. 3 Oregon.

"I know we don't get an opportunity to go to Georgia too often, so the opportunity for ... all our kids from Georgia to get to go back to their home stadium, play in front of their home crowd and friends and family, that's something special for them," Brooks said.

Brooks, who lives with Minter, said he is familiar with Minter's Georgia ties.

"I joke around with him," Brooks said. "I always tell him, ‘We're getting ready to go to your hometown, huh?' and he just laughs at me. He told me he's ready to go home and play."

The Atlanta natives will not only play in front of their friends, but against them as well. Minter played with Georgia's senior punter Drew Butler and redshirt freshman safety Connor Norman, and went to camps with junior linebacker Christian Robinson, who went to high school with T-Bob Hebert.

Minter was recruited by Georgia, but said Baton Rouge's call was too strong.

"It's this whole atmosphere, everything about Baton Rouge — it caught my attention," Minter said. "Even when [Georgia] started recruiting me kind of hard, I couldn't leave Baton Rouge."

Minter wouldn't say the game meant more to him than most but did reiterate his roommate's sentiments.

"It's pretty special, especially with me being at home going against Georgia," Minter said.

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Contact Alex Cassara at acassara@lsureveille.com.