When star South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore suffered the second major knee injury of his college career back in late-October, many wondered if the popular player would ever return to the game.  From the horrifying looksof the injury, it wasn’t too far-fetched for people to wonder if he would ever walk the same again… much less play football.

But as an observer at this week’s Senior Bowl practices, the ex-Gamecock said yesterday that he would be back.  All the way back:

“I’m going to continue to go to work until I’m back at 100% and better than I was.  That’s my goal and it is realistic…

If you don’t do your rehab, if you keep asking yourself ‘why me?’ your knee reacts to that.  You have to stay positive or you’re not going to come back…

I know it can be done.  It can be done and I will do it.”

Lattimore also said he’s “way ahead of schedule” in that rehab work.

Had he been able to avoid injuries during his three-year career, Lattimore quite possibly could have etched his name alongside SEC greats like Herschel Walker and Bo Jackson.  Here’s hoping we see him reach his full potential in the NFL.

1. Why the nation’s No. 1 recruit is creating a buzz - at Ole Miss.

2. Even after committing, recruits still feel pressure.

3. Want a sneak peak of Mississippi State’s new unis?

4. Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson on finding out the news that Bobby Petrino had been fired: The “one thing I really stressed was that it had already happened and that there were two things you can control in life, and that’s your attitude and your effort.”

5. Georgia running backs are forever in the shadow of Herschel Walker.

6. Tennessee is already watching film and getting ready for North Carolina State.

7. Where will the SEC and Big 12 play? “The Champions Bowl is on the clock to land a city.”

8. Lee Corso on college football playoffs: “There’s going to be complaining about the fifth team that doesn’t get in. The more controversy you have, the more the playoff will eventually grow to eight teams, 16 teams.”

9. “I’d just hate to see a day where we might play Florida, and whether you win or lose, you still go to the playoffs, no one thinks it’s that big of a deal,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “It is a big deal every game we play. I don’t want college football to lose that.”

10. R.I.P. former South Carolina coach Jim Carlen - dead at 79.

11. Why incentivizing fans to come to the stadium is a priority: “Regular-season attendance fell in eight of the country’s 11 major conferences in 2011, including the SEC and Big Ten.”

12. Former Tennessee basketball player Renaldo Woolridge – now at USC – still likes the Vols.

 The NCAA and Penn State

13. Details on the penalties for Penn State.

14. Punishment from the Big Ten could be next.

15. “The N.C.A.A is 102 years old and this is the first time that something like this has happened.”

16. Players will be allowed an easier transfer process.

17. Dennis Dodd: The next decision at Penn State: Whether to play football at all for a period of years.

18. Pat Forde:  ”As I’ve stated repeatedly, this is no place for the NCAA and its manual.”

19. John Pennington:  ”This is 100% the wrong move by a governing body that so often makes the wrong move.”

20. Bobby Bowden is now the all-time wins leader in college football (Division 1).  Joe Paterno out of top 10 for all of college.

Georgia’s Isaiah Crowell has split time at tailback as he worked to learn the Dawgs’ playbook and blitz pick-ups.  He’s dealth with some nagging injuries.  And, yes, he even had a one-game suspension thrown in for good measure.

Still, UGA’s top prize from its February signing class is on pace to hit the 1,000-yard rushing plateau (which requires about 83 yards per game for someone playing in all 12 of a team’s games).  If Crowell hits the mark — and he’s at 821 with Kentucky and Georgia Tech left to play — he’ll be the first Georgia freshman to hit 1,000 since a fella named Herschel Walker.

“I want to get over 1,000 pretty bad,” Crowell said yesterday.  “My goal was to be a freshman All-American.  I don’t know if that’s going to happen or whatever, but I definitely want to get a thousand.  That was my goal at the beginning of the season and I want to be able to reach my goal.”

Only nine freshman backs in SEC history have rushed for 1,000 yards in a season:


Herschel Walker, Georgia, 1980 — 1,616 yards
Reggie Cobb, Tennessee, 1987 — 1,197 yards
Emmitt Smith, Florida, 1987 — 1,341 yards
Chuck Webb, Tennessee, 1989 — 1,236 yards
Jamal Lewis, Tennessee, 1997 — 1,364 yards
Justin Vincent, LSU, 2003 — 1,001 yards
Darren McFadden, Arkansas, 2005 — 1,113 yards
Mike Dyer, Auburn, 2010 — 1,093 yards
Marcus Lattimore, South Carolina, 2010 — 1,197 yards


Not bad company.

Isaiah Crowell — the SEC’s fifth-leading rusher — gave himself and the Georgia program a black eye this week when a failed drug test led to his suspension from the team for a week.

This news came on top of preseason rumors that Crowell was having a hard time adjusting to college life and college football.

But Mark Richt says his star tailback — who was prematurely compared to Herschel Walker by some — is far from a finished product at this stage of his life:

“I feel like he is going to grow up from this in some ways and I think is going to be better for it.  Sometimes things happen in life that will help you grow up a little bit quicker.”

The coach also said that his running back is “very remorseful” and that he was encouraged by the way Crowell took his punishment.  “… I think it was one of the better conversations I’ve had with Isaiah since he’s been here.”

Crowell’s high school coach also believes his former pupil has learned his lesson.

Lucky for Crowell his lesson seems to have come in a relatively minor way.  There was no arrest.  There was no violent crime, no DUI.

One failed drug test can serve as a wake-up call.  Here’s hoping Crowell answers that call.

On a sidenote, the AP has now quoted two people “familiar with the results” of the drug test as saying that the tests were administered last Wednesday, but the results were not confirmed until Tuesday, when the suspensions were announced.

Georgia AD Greg McGarity said yesterday, “We don’t play games around here.  For someone to insinuate that we are being selective like that is absurd.  We don’t manipulate things.  We are going to conduct our program with respect and do things the right way.  For anyone to claim otherwise is irresponsible.”

Richt added: “We didn’t know anything until Monday evening.  That’s when we knew we needed to start thinking about what’s going on.”

It was announced today that the SEC and ESPN will combine to launch a new documentary series called “Storied” which will debut September 7th at 8pm on ESPNU.

The series — compared to ESPN’s excellent “30 for 30″ documentary series — will feature four episodes per year featuring some of “the SEC’s most-compelling stories.”

The first film will feature Herschel Walker.  The second will focus on the history of the SEC Championship Game.

Legendary Georgia running back Herschel Walker — yes, he of the multiple personalities and MMA career — is back on the UGA campus as a favor to the Bulldog football team.

“To be honest, I was happy they asked me to come back,” the Heisman-winner said.  “Sometimes I think people forget about you when you start getting old.”

Walker — who is scheduled to work out with the Dawgs today — told the media he has some words of advice for incoming hotshot tailback prospect Isaiah Crowell:


“The advice I’d give him is do his thing.  You can’t worry about what people think about you. … Just do what he can do and don’t worry about making mistakes. …

The team was already there (in 1980, when Walker led UGA to the national crown).  They were looking for a running back so I fit into a situation.  Right now everyone is looking for (Crowell) to go out there and carry his team.  All he’s got to do is carry his position, carry what he’s supposed to do and most of all just enjoy.”

Auburn 56 – South Carolina 17

1. Tigers are now 13-0. Cam Newton leads the way.

2. Newton may be the greatest of the greatest.

3. Mark Bradley: “Cam Newton is the second-best college player I’ve ever seen. Herschel Walker, and only Herschel Walker, was better. And not by much.”

4. Auburn’s defense also impresses.

5.  Redemption for Auburn and the decision to hire Gene Chizik

6. Jon Solomon: “Exactly six years after Auburn left the Georgia Dome as SEC champions short of the larger prize, the Tigers knocked the door down to Glendale.”

7. Pat Dye: “We had some great players, but never a better team than this one.”

8. Alshon Jeffery: “I ain’t never got beat like this before.”

9. Plenty of poor coverage for the Gamecocks secondary.

10. It’s Auburn vs. Oregon for all the marbles.

11.  Oregon an early favorite.