Marcus Lattimore weighs in on sitting out bowl games

Former South Carolina football star Marcus Lattimore played less than a quarter of a bowl game in his career.

A concussion knocked him out early in the 2010 Chick-fil-A Bowl against Florida State. The next few years, his seasons ended early with knee injuries.

So it makes some sense he has a few thoughts with the news Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey and LSU’s Leonard Fournette will skip their team’s bowl games to start NFL draft preparation.

Lattimore told ESPN he wouldn’t have skipped a bowl if he’d had the chance. He said he understood those players’ perspectives and wished them the best, but it’s not a choice he would have made.

“You can understand that (financial) side,” Lattimore said. “But you also have to look your teammates in the eye and say, ‘I’m just going to skip this one.’ That’s tough.”

Lattimore ran for 2,677 yards and a school-record 38 touchdowns in his career. After a devastating knee injury in 2012, he went to the NFL draft but never played a down in the NFL.

This story was originally published December 22, 2016 at 8:37 AM with the headline "Marcus Lattimore weighs in on sitting out bowl games."