San Francisco 49ers Happy With Progress of Marcus Lattimore’s Knee
By Josh Sanchez
Former South Carolina Gamecocks running back Marcus Lattimore suffered one of the more brutal leg injuries that you will see in college football, but he has made a miraculous recovery and is already back on the field working out. After initially raising concerns over whether or not he would ever walk again, he was able to work his way back to becoming a fourth-round pick in the 2013 NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers.
Of course, Lattimore still has a good ways to go before he can return to game action, but he is already impressing the 49ers with his physical prior to the team’s rookie minicamp.
“Everything looks good structurally with all the guys that we drafted,” 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh said, according to Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com. “The ACL looks really good for Marcus. We have to take a step back in terms of some of the cutting because we want that inside of the knee, the lateral side of the knee, to heal fully.”
Because of the depth San Francisco has on their roster, they have the ability to keep Lattimore on the sideline for his entire rookie season in essentially what would be a “redshirt” season.
If that is the route the 49ers choose to go, Lattimore will be perfectly okay with that decision.
“I think that would be fine,” Lattimore said. “Whatever happens these next three months probably will determine that. I’m going to continue to keep working hard, and if I’m called upon, I feel like hopefully I’ll be ready.
“I feel like whatever’s best, I’m going to go with that. We have a lot of great guys on our team — Kendall [Hunter], Frank [Gore], Anthony Dixon, LaMichael [James]. And I know I can learn a lot from those guys.”
Lattimore certainly has the motivation and work ethic that will get him back to peak shape and when he is fully healthy he could be exactly what the 49ers need in their backfield.