Anyone who was watching the South Carolina gamecocks play the Tennessee Volunteers just witnessed one of the most gruesome looking injuries ever to occur on the football field. In what was not an illegal or cheap or dirty hit, Lattimore was hit in his knee that immediately conjured up memories of Willis McGahee and Joe Theisman. It was that sickening to see.
Again, it was not a dirty play. It was not a late or illegal hit. It was just poor timing and placement. Lattimore’s knee was out of place, and he clearly either broke his leg or tore up his knee. Having watched football for a long time, I can honestly tell you that watching this play was harder to watch than either of the previous ones. Not to take anything away from McGahee or Theisman, but this was worse.
Personally, I felt this injury to Lattimore was made ten times worse because of what this poor kid has already had to battle back from in his career. The Gamecocks star back missed the second half of last season after tearing up his knee that required surgery. It was so tough for him to come back from that injury, both from a physical and mental standpoint. To have to go through what may be even harder is simply devastating.
I really feel for him. You could see the emotion in his eyes, as well as from his teammates. The injury was so gruesome and Lattimore is so well respected across the college football landscape that the Tennessee players also all came out onto the field to wish him well as the trainers carted him off the field. That is how much this kid means to the game.
I don’t know what will happen from here. Lattimore may never step on the football field from a competitive aspect again. The obstacles may simply be too overwhelming to overcome. I hope that is not the case, but to suffer from two such traumatizing hits in such a short time span is more than more people can handle.
All you can hope is that somehow, some day, Lattimore can overcome everything and wind up having a successful career at the next level. After all, many people doubted that McGahee would ever play again either.
A decade later, McGahee is still enjoying a productive NFL career.
I truly hope that another decade from now, we are talking about the hit that Lattimore suffered as he is still playing in the NFL for some team who would be lucky to have such a talented back, but also such a quality kid.
Get well soon, Mr. Lattimore. We all wish you the best.
Filed under: Breaking News, NCAA
Tagged with: Joe Theisman, Marcus Lattimore, South Carolina Gamecocks, Tennessee Volunteers, Willis McGahee
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Definitely a bad looking injury but not even close to Theismann’s compound fracture.
Initial report is that he tore every ligament and broke his femur. A broken femur is extremely serious and in many cases worse than any fracture in the lower leg, even it it’s a compound. Forget football. It’ll be a good while before he walks again.
If he dislocated his knee (not to be confused with a dislocated kneecap, a much less serious injury) then he indeed tore every ligament and broke part of his leg. He also likely will have temporary nerve damage. This injury is usually only seen in auto accidents or extreme skiing. I’d never say never, but I’d be amazed if he played football again. This is worse than Willis McGahee because his knee popped right back in place. Marcus’s stayed dislocated which probably means much worse damage. Honestly, and I don’t want to come off as extreme, but he’s lucky to have his leg. Many people have to be amputated after an injury like this because of damage to arteries in the leg.
My heart goes out to the kid and I hope the university gives him all the medical help he needs, which will be at least 2 years and likely multiple surgeries.
If you want an injury to compare it to, Raiders Running Back Napolean McCallum is probably the closest.
Yeah, you are right, it was not a late or illegal hit, but whether it was dirty or not, only the TN players know. They obviously stod him up and went low on him. It’s illegal in the NFL to tackle leading wtth your helmet, yet there are still players, who I consider dirty, that hurl themselves at runners and receivers knees, using their helmet as a weapon, and I have never seen that called unless it’s on a qb. Why? How many more unecessary knee injuries do these young men have to endure before they start flagging and fining players for helmets to the knees or lower? Just do your job and tackle the guys. As for whether this wes dirty, who knows? Was the high/low hit intentional? We will never know for sure. Many prayers go out to this young man and his family!!
Are you kidding me? The intent is only a fraction of whether this hit was dirty, doesn’t matter. The tackler recklessly lead with his helmet which caused the injury. This kid is a coward and his actions not only needlessly ended the career of a great player but also left a young man scarred for the rest of his life. He will be lucky if he can ever walk again without a limp.For what? Because the defender was to afraid to tackle him like a man. This type of tackling should be illegal and I fail to see the differance of leading with your helmet and hitting someone high or hitting them low. Change is needed.