Jim Harbaugh has high, high praise for Marcus Lattimore

From the start of his high school career, Marcus Lattimore had four head football coaches.

First current South Carolina running backs coach Bobby Bentley, and then Chris Miller at Byrnes. Then he played for the Gamecocks and Steve Spurrier, having a big role in him holding the school's all-time wins record.

And then in his challenging stint in the pros, Jim Harbaugh.

That's the same Jim Harbaugh set to coach Michigan against South Carolina in the Outback Bowl on Jan. 1. He took a moment Thursday to reflect of Lattimore as a player and as a person.

"Great guy," Harbaugh said. "Just a good genuine down-to-earth good person. Hard worker. He really gave everything he had.

"Always positive. Always upbeat. Found the good in things. Never complained. Some real virtues. I know that he'll be really great after football."

Lattimore joined Harbaugh's San Francisco 49ers as a fourth-round draft pick in 2013, after the devastating knee injury that ended his college career. He made a go of it, fighting through pain and trying to get back to his former level.

But he never took a carry in the pros and retired in 2014.

It was something that made sense to Harbaugh.

"Understood it really," Harbaugh said. "Honesty, that's what stands out. There has been guys, many is the guys that string it out. Blame it on somebody else or the doctors. Not him. He was just forthright, honest and appreciative. And we were as well, that he gave everything he had."

The coach said Lattimore could leave his NFL stint happy he'd done all he could.

Lattimore finished his Gamecocks career as the school's No. 6 rusher with 2,677 yards, despite missing much of his final two seasons with injuries. He was a first-team All-SEC player in 2010 and the conference freshman of the year.

As a high school player, he won South Carolina's Mr. Football award and rushed for 6,375 yards and scored 104 touchdowns.

Since ending his professional career, he's worked with kids as part of his foundation and coached Heathwood Hall High School.

Harbaugh left things by describing Lattimore as someone who "never got bored doing the right thing."

This story was originally published December 28, 2017 at 1:59 PM with the headline "Jim Harbaugh has high, high praise for Marcus Lattimore."