OUR COLLEGE FOOTBALL COUNTDOWN: NO. 6 LSU

LSU’s Fournette, Baton Rouge hope football fever becomes a happy escape following the turmoil and tragedy of recent shooting deaths.

— A family decked HOOVER, ALA. in purple and gold lingered in the third-floor atrium. This wasn’t normal. No fans are allowed on the third floor of the Wynfrey Hotel during Southeastern Conference media days. Most of them are confined to the first-floor lobby, where black ropes keep autograph-seekers a safe distance from players and coaches of the 14 SEC schools during this four-day event near Birmingham.

But the family milled around the third-floor atrium, a few steps from a spacious suite, a holding room for players and coaches throughout the week. At 9:30 a.m. that Thursday, the suite hosted a local media interview session with LSU coach Les Miles and the Tigers’ three player representatives — running back Leonard Fournette, center Ethan Pocic and defensive back Tre’Davious White.

The family — a black man, his wife and their 20-month-old son

STACY REVERE / GETTY IMAGES LSU running back Leonard Fournette says he thinks football will help heal wounds in a tense Baton Rouge, where the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling and subsequent protests were followed by an ambush that left three police officers dead.