Marcus Lattimore, who was slated to join Will Muschamp’s staff at South Carolina, has been blocked by the NCAA from this position because his presence would be considered an “unfair” advantage in recruiting, per David Cloninger of The State.
“Lattimore, who will graduate from USC next month, was never going to coach but was going to speak to the team about life off the field and beyond the game, such as he does through The Marcus Lattimore Foundation,” Cloninger writes.
Really, this is quite ridiculous.
The NCAA is stomping on Lattimore’s desire to remain a part of the program with his alma mater after the football gods crushed his first one by ensuring his knee would never be stable enough for him to live out his NFL career.
One of the most promising running backs to come out of college in a decade, Lattimore’s knee famously disintegrated in a game against Tennessee in October of 2012.
He tried to make a comeback with the San Francisco 49ers, who took a gamble with him in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft. But his knee never recovered.
Cloninger notes Muschamp could hire Lattimore on as a member of his coaching staff but that the former Gamecocks star running back hasn’t wanted to adhere to the time commitment such a gig would command.
One has to imagine the same old guys sitting around smoking cigars (as Jim Harbaugh recently called them) in the SEC made some big noise about USC bringing the famous Lattimore into the fold.
However it happened, Lattimore will now have to content himself with a lesser role. And it’s a shame.