The girl who won the heart of former USC football star Marcus Lattimore (+ video)

Marcus Lattimore’s knees passed their biggest test.

The rebuilt joints wouldn’t allow him to continue his football future, but they sturdily supported him this past Saturday when he committed to another future. After his football camp at Heathwood Hall, Lattimore ran the most important play of his career.

“I said, ‘Guys, when you find that lady, or that young woman who loves the Lord, and loves you, don’t let her go,’ ” Lattimore said. “ ‘Miranda, can you please come up here for one second?’ ”

Miranda Bailey, Lattimore’s girlfriend of seven years, slowly walked forward as Lattimore kneeled. No problems with the left knee. Seeing Bailey begin to cry, Lattimore rose, took a few steps and again kneeled. No problems with the right knee.

Lattimore asked Bailey to marry him. She tearfully nodded.

None of the 41 touchdowns Lattimore scored at South Carolina felt half as good as this.

“I planned it probably two weeks before,” Lattimore said on Wednesday, Bailey by his side. “She had no idea, no clue, what was going on. Earlier that morning, we were singing love songs, there was one song that was like, ‘You ready, you ready?’ She asked me was I ready for the big day, talking about the camp. And I said, ‘Yeah, are you ready for the big day?’ ”

“First thing that came to my mind was, ‘I don’t have on any makeup and all these people have cameras,’ ” Bailey said. “Then I was thinking, ‘This can’t be real.’ ”

It was, as was the sparkling diamond on her left ring finger. She always chided Lattimore that she’d know when he was about to propose, but Saturday surprised her. She was handing out vouchers for customized mouthpieces when Lattimore asked her to come forward.

“I had one more voucher and his friend grabs it from me,” Bailey said. “He took my phone, the flyers and I look over and Marcus is down on a knee.”

It’s been a whirlwind journey for Lattimore since he retired from the NFL in November, moving back to South Carolina, re-enrolling and helping the university as a special assistant to the president. He runs his foundation, works in the community and still turns heads everywhere he goes, pausing Wednesday to sign an autograph and thanking a restaurant customer for her congratulations.

The fame is something that Bailey never realized until she came to USC. Having known him since eighth grade and having dated since high school, of course Bailey knew Lattimore played, but she had no idea that he was one of the country’s top prospects.

“I remember going to his house and (his mother) had this huge file cabinet of schools reaching out to him,” Bailey said, wondering if he had to send $35 application fees to colleges like she did. “I had to work the night of his signing day. Then people were texting me, and I was saying, ‘Is it really that big of a deal?’ ”

Lattimore asked for her number at a Byrnes High track meet, following with an invitation to go to McDonald’s. An over-protective older sister, Bailey giggled, nearly squashed that but agreed to take Bailey to meet Lattimore for a Big Mac or two.

A movie (“Meet the Browns”) and burgers at Wendy’s followed. “Then I dropped her off at home, and I said, ‘Hey, can I get a kiss?’ She was like, ‘You’re brave.’ ”

A long text hit Lattimore’s phone when he got home. The two have been together since.

The relationship flourished through Lattimore’s recruiting saga, a year where he was leading the Gamecocks to the 2010 SEC East championship while she was finishing high school and the injuries. Bailey was supposed to work the day Lattimore’s right knee was wrecked, but with no crowd in the restaurant, her manager told her she could go home. She had just sat down at her apartment near Williams-Brice Stadium when she saw Lattimore sitting on the field, grasping at his knee.

“I grabbed my purse and I just ran,” Bailey said. “I ended up leaving the door wide-open, ran straight across to the stadium.”

Her smiling, forever-confident boyfriend was surrounded by family, all in tears.

“I had never heard him that discouraged in my life,” Bailey said. “He looked at me and said, ‘I’m done. I’m just done.’ ”

She was there for his grueling rehab and the moment when it paid off with a draft selection. A union that hadn’t strained from distance and football was tested by living on opposite coasts, but Bailey and Lattimore thrived.

She had left the West Coast after visiting in November, decorating his room since his first real practice coincided with his birthday, when she knew something was different.

“I asked him how (practice) was and he didn’t sound super-confident. Usually he would go into more detail,” Bailey said. “And he wanted to change the subject, and I thought, ‘Something’s not right.’ ”

He told her that he had decided to retire. As sad as she was for his career to end, she also was proud of the work he did to get to that point – and glad that he’d soon be home.

Lattimore had already started on the next step. Bailey shared a picture on Pinterest a year ago of a diamond ring, calling it the most beautiful ring ever. Lattimore gave himself a crash course in diamonds, then began selecting one.

He matched it. “I did call it the most beautiful ring ever,” Bailey said, admiring hers. “This one’s much better, though.”

Lattimore and Bailey will marry in December (after the SEC Championship Game, just in case), a few months shy of the eighth anniversary of their first date, and while Williams-Brice was a consideration – “Gamecock Nation, come on!,” Lattimore crowed – they like the coast. Relaxed and beaming on Wednesday, a player who had competed in so many big games without an ounce of fear recalled how jittery he was Saturday.

“I was nervous all week, I was nervous all the way through the camp, until I got on one knee,” Lattimore said. “I wasn’t nervous anymore.”

Bailey smiled and patted her fiance’s leg.

“The one knee that’s been through so much.”

This story was originally published April 16, 2015 at 3:55 PM with the headline "The girl who won the heart of former USC football star Marcus Lattimore (+ video)."