Five months after a serious knee injury that had many questioning whether or not he would ever play football again, South Carolina stud running back Marcus Lattimore showed up and impressed today at South Carolina’s Pro Day.
USA Today is reporting that Lattimore worked out for all 32 teams, and afterwards, got a huge applause. Lattimore ran football drills indoors for scouts, and ran some control pass routes outside also.
“It was crazy,” he told USA TODAY Sports when reacting to the ovation. “I did not expect that at all. Pretty much every scout came up to me and said that was amazing and inspiring.”
Lattimore has been training and rehabilitating in Gulf Breeze, Fla., with orthopedic surgeon James Andrews, and says he has visits scheduled with the New England Patriots and St. Louis Rams prior to next month’s draft.
Lattimore said he’s aiming to be ready to play by midseason.
“The goal is to be ready,” Lattimore says. “You never know what will happen. I’ll probably have to slow down a little bit. No doubt if not the beginning of the season, (then) the middle of the season.”
Lattimore reportedly performed 15 minutes of agility drills on a track-like surface indoors, before catching passes at the stadium from current and former South Carolina quarterbacks.
Lattimore’s representative reportedly didn’t want him to participate in the pro day, but the running back insisted on it. He is projected as a mid-round choice despite having both his sophomore and junior seasons ended by knee injuries.