Marcus Lattimore reflects as South Carolina graduation draws near

South Carolina athletes exited Colonial Life Arena in groups, heading into the bright Tuesday afternoon sun. They wore graduation gowns, mortarboards and tassels, as a photographer tried to herd them onto the steps for a group photos.

These were seniors, just leaving a ring ceremony for athletes, just more than a week from their undergrad graduation. But in their midst was a Gamecock who had not donned his uniform in three and a half years.

Marcus Lattimore is just about to finish what he started.

“This is a proud day, I can tell you that,” Lattimore said. “Sitting through the ring ceremony, watching everybody reading all their accomplishments and then you hear your name and May 6, 3 p.m., I graduate from college. Not a lot of people do that, especially in my family. Words can’t really even describe it.”

He’d come through a lot, the dynamic seasons as a star at USC, the gruesome knee injury that ended his Carolina career. He gave the NFL his best try, but couldn’t escape the injury’s after effects.

He’s worked with young people since, running camps in the Upstate with not only football, but life beyond it as a focus. Although his bid to take an official role with the Gamecocks was blocked by the NCAA, he promised to continue providing advice and guidance to players on campus.

The need to look at life past the field was a lesson he freely admitted he needed to learn. The Marcus Lattimore who came to South Carolina wasn’t particularly mature. He thought about his professional future, getting drafted, and walking on graduation day to get a degree wasn’t a vital part of the plan.

“I can tell you, that was on the low end of my list, having that,” Lattimore said of a degree. “But my views changed, my attitudes changed, I’ve grown more as a man. This college experience the past six years now, it’s really revealed to myself who I really am and what’s important to me, and that’s helping the people in the state of South Carolina.”

Although his college career ended years ago, he took one of his final steps with athletes who still have games ahead of them.

Offensive lineman Mason Zandi has a whole redshirt senior football season to go. He looked back at his 17-year-old self, signing a letter of intent, coming to Columbia with only football on his mind. But he quickly realized how important the degree would be.

Marcus Mooney’s graduation will overlap his baseball team’s series at Kentucky. His academic career will end next week, but he’ll be playing on as long as his team can keep the season going.

And he got the ring, large, silver and engraved.

“It’s pretty cool,” Mooney said. “It’s my first ring since I’ve been here. Hopefully I could tack on one or two more at the end of this baseball season. Now that school’s over, we can focus mainly on baseball, not be stressed out about school or tests.”

Softball catcher Jordan Bizzell likewise will play past “Pomp and Circumstance” and when she’s done, she’ll move on to role as director at Pinegrove Sports Complex in West Columbia.

After her final afternoon with only her fellow seniors, she too couldn’t help but admire the ring.

“It’s beautiful and it’s huge,” Bizzell said. “I’m really happy with it. It turned out great.”

This story was originally published April 26, 2016 at 5:14 PM with the headline "Marcus Lattimore reflects as South Carolina graduation draws near."