The sad timeline of Marcus Lattimore’s career-ending injury

In 2012, Marcus Lattimore suffered one of the most unfortunate knee injuries in college football history. The South Carolina running back never played again in college, but he rehabbed and managed a brief entry into the NFL before retiring in 2014 without ever playing a game. Lattimore does good work in South Carolina in his post-playing career and recently tried to sign on as a coach with the Gamecocks, though the NCAA didn’t allow it.

This is a legitimate thing to think about, definitely. But from the outside, it’s impossible to know exactly what went on with the injured players Lattimore is citing, which makes it hard to assign blame or think up exactly the right solution.

Lattimore tore a ligament in his left knee as a sophomore at South Carolina in 2011, and then suffered a horrible injury in his opposite knee one year later that included a dislocation and significant damage to multiple ligaments. That injury effective ended his career with the Gamecocks, as Lattimore declared for the NFL Draft at the end of the season and was taken in the fourth round by the 49ers.

He spent the entire 2013 season on the non-football injury list and started this season on that list as well, having never suited up in a game for the 49ers. He did return to the practice field last week with the hope that he could play later this season, but had recurring issues with his surgically repaired knee during practices and felt that it was time to move on to a new chapter in his life after football.

Former South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore is retiring from the NFL after a brief stint with the San Francisco 49ers, having not played in a single game. It has been a sad fall for the former five-star recruit, who was a star at South Carolina, but was drafted in the fourth round after the second of two brutal knee injuries.

All he’ll have made from his football career is about $2.825 million — $1.7 million from insurance, $300,000 from a signing bonus and $825,000 in salary. Since he was placed on the non-football injury list, the 49ers didn’t have to pay him his yearly salary, but they did, according to Ian Rapoport. For a player with his potential coming out of high school, that was almost unthinkable, and now he will be heading back into the real world. Even if he decides to give it another go, it’s clear that his most productive money-making years are behind him.

According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Lattimore is still weighing his options and his agent, Michael Perrett, insists that the running back hasn’t made a decision yet about his future in football.

Lattimore, 23, practiced for the first time ever with the 49ers last week well over a year after the team selected him in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft. As a rookie, Lattimore spent the entire 2013 season on the reserve/non-football injury list rehabbing a knee injury suffered in October 2012.

Lattimore was once thought of as a top NFL prospect before suffering a second knee injury. He opted to head to the NFL a year early despite the injury and was selected in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft by the 49ers. San Francisco had a deep roster and plenty of draft picks, so the selection made sense for the future. The 49ers didn’t need to rush Lattimore and could give him time to fully recover. Lattimore sat out all of last season and opened this year on the physically unable to perform list. He was only recently medically cleared and practiced for the first time this week. He felt pain in the knee after practicing twice, leading him to contemplate his future.

A standout at South Carolina, Lattimore was the Sporting News Freshman of the Year and a second-team All-American in 2010, with 1,197 yards rushing and 19 touchdowns. After tearing a knee ligament in 2011, he returned for the 2012 season and was playing well before dislocating his right knee in a game against Tennessee.

Placing him on injured reserve comes as no surprise. 49ers sources said in August they didn’t expect the rookie running back to play in 2013, instead electing to have Lattimore work with the team’s training staff and fully recover. This necessitated keeping him on the active roster so he could practice for three weeks, while not risking his rights by placing him on the team’s practice squad -- where he could have been poached by a rival team.

Lattimore sustained a torn ACL, MCL and PCL against the Tennessee Volunteers in 2012. Once believed to be a top-ten lock, he tumbled down draft boards due to his two ligament injuries while playing for South Carolina. He was selected in the fourth round by San Francisco.

Lattimore has spent his entire training camp thus far on the Active/Non Football Injury list. As the regular season approaches, the 49ers will have to decide whether to place the running back on injured reserve or on the non-football injury list. The latter would allow Lattimore to return with the team after six games, potentially giving him valuable experience in practice even if he is unable to play. The move would also cost the team a roster spot, however.

Lattimore’s spirit and drive is well-documented, and the young man has already been lobbying the 49ers to get him on the field somehow. For now, it appears fans will have to wait until 2014 to watch Lattimore’s first carry in a 49ers uniform.

Lattimore told Les Carpenter of Yahoo! Sports that he believes he is physically ready to go back on the field right now, but he also said that he’s not upset with the NFI designation for now:

The 49ers will have the option to remove Lattimore from the Active/NFI list at any point in time during training camp or they could revert him to the Reserve/NFI list by final cuts, which would withhold him from the field for at least six weeks.

Lattimore went on to say that he’d like to get a chance to practice “mid-season.” The 49ers open training camp in late July, and though all signs point to Lattimore’s recovery going well to this point, the knee injuries he sustained in college were very serious. After all, Lattimore was considered a possible first overall pick prior to those injuries.

It’s likely that Lattimore will be added to the Non-Football Injury list. Lattimore’s college injury doesn’t count as a “football injury” at the NFL level. If he goes to that list, he will have to sit out the first six weeks of the season. It’s still up for debate as to whether or not Lattimore will get any playing time at all this season, but it seems likely he’d come back to practice with the team.

The former South Carolina running back was one of San Francisco’s two fourth-round draft selections (at 131st overall) this offseason. Lattimore continues on the road to complete recovery after suffering a brutal injury last season against the Tennessee Volunteers, which ripped up three ligaments in his right knee.

Lattimore holds South Carolina’s all-time records for rushing touchdowns, with 38, and total touchdowns, with 41. He piled up 2,677 rushing yards as a Gamecock, was a two-time member of the All-SEC team and was named the SEC Freshman of the Year in 2010.

The San Francisco 49ers had faith in Marcus Lattimore’s ability to recover from one of the ugliest knee injuries imaginable, selecting him with the No. 131st pick in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft. Lattimore is the No. 3 running back and the No. 64 player available overall according to Dan Kadar of Mocking the Draft.

Just stepping on a NFL field will be a triumph for the South Carolina back, but he’ll be looking to show he’s not just capable of playing in the NFL, but one of the better running backs in his class. Lattimore proved his ability to be a fearsome ballcarrier his freshman year, busting out for 1,197 yards on 4.8 yards per carry. The speed, the dynamic cuts, the ability to get past defenders no matter how - it was all there. That guy was a first round pick.

He could be chosen anywhere from the second to fifth round in the 2013 NFL Draft, but wherever he lands, Lattimore believes he’ll be ready. “I feel like, personally, I need three more months before I put some pads on,” he said. Dr. James Andrews, who performed the knee surgery, has been impressed with Lattimore’s recovery. According to the running back, Andrews agrees that Lattimore could be ready by the end of July.

• NFL mock draft: Thursday looms

Lattimore, 21, was an All-SEC selection in both his freshman and sophomore seasons, although a torn ACL in October of his sophomore year ended his season prematurely. He recovered in time for his junior season in 2012, but suffered a devastating injury to his other knee that included a torn ACL, LCL, PCL and a dislocated kneecap.

Despite the injury and with one year of eligibility remaining, Lattimore declared for the 2013 NFL Draft, but has been unable to participate in most pre-Draft activities, including the NFL Combine or private workouts. He did participate in the South Carolina Pro Day, but he was far from full speed and had a doctor close behind him at all times.

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The truth is, Lattimore is in uncharted waters. Adrian Peterson’s climb back from a torn ACL to an MVP season is widely regarded as a modern wonder of the sports world, and even what he did pales in some ways to what Lattimore is attempting to do now. Not only is Lattimore’s injury arguably more severe, this will be his second second stint rehabbing a torn ACL. He blew out his other knee in 2011 against Mississippi State.

Lattimore knows all of this. He knew it in the hours that transpired after the Tennessee game, too.

“After a couple days went by and I saw the support I got from a lot of people I felt like, ‘You know, I’m going to go through this, I’m going to come back from this, and I’m going to make this a great story,’” Lattimore says. “I’m going to come back and be the first person ever to come back from what I had. It’s going to be a great story and I’m going to have a great career.”

For Lattimore, perspective is everything and he’s found the silver lining to shoot for.

“Whatever comes my way in life and in football, in anything, I will never break, nothing will break my happiness that I have in waking up every day and being able to train for the sport I love,” says Lattimore. “I will be back on the field again, and I will be 100 percent. The plan is for it to begin Week 1.”

Lattimore dislocated his left kneecap and tore several ligaments on the same knee that he had injured just a year earlier. Yet, Lattimore showed up at Senior Bowl practice on Tuesday and was walking without a limp.

Lattimore told reporters that he is “way ahead of schedule” and is going to come back “better than he was.” He went on to say that Dr. James Andrews, who performed his knee surgery, said Lattimore’s progress was “nothing short of a miracle.“

Lattimore will hope to prove to scouts that he’ll be able to return from a gruesome injury suffered Oct. 27 against Tennessee. Lattimore’s ACL and LCL were damaged and required surgery, which was successful, as he’s now walking without the use of crutches, but he’s been out for South Carolina’s last three games, will miss the Outback Bowl against Michigan, and likely won’t be able to fully participate in the draft combine. In fact, he might not be available to play in 2013 if drafted as he recovers from the major injury.

Lattimore had previously torn a knee ligament ending his sophomore season, but was clearly good to go for 2012 as he scored 11 touchdowns in nine games on 4.6 yards per carry. Injuries have prevented him from repeating the success of his freshman campaign, when he took the SEC by storm with 1,198 yards and 17 touchdowns.

Lattimore’s 2012 season came to an end last week against Tennessee when he suffered a major knee injury. He’s said he plans to return to play football again at South Carolina despite what many were assuming would be the end of his playing career. Earlier in the week, more than 1,500 Carolina fans gathered to wish Lattimore well and sing him “Happy Birthday.”

And via South Carolina, here’s a look at some of the items supporters have sent in:

Montgomery is a South Carolina native and close friends with Lattimore.

The star running back hasn’t used his redshirt season yet, so Lattimore does have options if his rehab should cut into his 2013-14 campaign.

There is a list of words used in bad sportswriting that, if included, should let you know that whatever you are reading is written for a sixth-grader, and not a particularly intelligent one. This list includes the word class, a word used by bad sportswriters to connote some kind of universal standard of very serious, humorless behavior adults must engage in at all times in order to be considered proper and admirable.

There is a reason I never, ever use this word: I am an American. We have classes, yes, big, sprawling classes we never talk about because it is deeply uncomfortable and antithetical to the notion of being American. Calling someone “classy” is by extension calling someone else “déclassé,” or “reduced for fallen in status.” it also makes you sound like a 75-year-old man, and not a particularly smart one. If you’re comfortable with that, then there you are.

Lattimore’s running style is flexible. He can make people or miss or run right through them. In essence, he is quite the NFL Draft prospect. At least, he would be if he could stay on the field.

On Saturday, Lattimore suffered one of the more gruesome knee injuries in recent memories. I’ll spare you a video or details and just say the human knee is not supposed to be bent at that angle. Steve Spurrier called the injury a dislocated knee, but refused to comment on any bone or ligament issues. This devastating injury comes after Lattimore missed most of his sophomore season with a torn ACL.

Perhaps as many as 1,500 people showed up to voice their support for Lattimore, including teammates and head coach Steve Spurrier. Spurrier read a message from South Carolina governor Nikki Haley declaring the day Marcus Lattimore Day in the state. He also delivered a message to fans on Lattimore’s behalf. “The message Marcus gave to me is, ‘Tell ‘em I’ll be back.’ So he’ll be back,” Spurrier said.

Monday also happens to be Lattimore’s 21st birthday, and his teammates led the crowd in the singing of “Happy Birthday” at one point. Lattimore watched the entire rally on the internet, according to university president Harris Pastides.

The Gamecocks’ website said Lattimore “is resting comfortably and will continue to be evaluated.” Lattimore was coming off a season-ending left knee injury suffered against Mississippi State in the seventh game of the 2011 season and returned as the Gamecocks’ leading rusher this season, compiling 662 yards on 143 carries (4.6 yards per carry), with a team-leading 11 touchdowns. He was also the Gamecocks’ top receiver with 26 catches for 173 yards.

Lattimore’s left knee, which had to be surgically repaired, was not injured in the Tennessee game. Before Lattimore’s injury late in the second quarter, he gained 65 yards on 11 carries, which included a 28-yard touchdown run.

“We are optimistic (Lattimore’s) football days are still ahead of him. There is history of guys coming back from this,” Spurrier said.

It’s not entirely clear what injuries Lattimore’s leg has suffered, but it was obvious from video replays that the junior had suffered something major.

Here’s video of the injury. Be warned: it’s horrible.

At the end of his 11th carry of the day, Lattimore’s right knee was hit low, and the result appeared to be a devastating injury. He immediately grabbed the leg, writhing in pain on the ground as South Carolina trainers rushed to his side. The cart was brought out, and his entire team surrounded Lattimore as the trainers worked to stabilize the knee. He put no weight on the knee, and was carted off after the trainers briefly worked on him.