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Marcus Lattimore's message to MarShawn Lloyd after tearing his ACL freshman year: 'This does not define you'

UVA BIO PICby:Mike Uva•03/14/22•

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MarShawn Lloyd takes a handoff in his first collegiate game against EIU on Sept. 4, 2021 (Photo: Katie Dugan)

Episode 2 of our new podcast series with ⁦Gamecock great Marcus Lattimore, South Carolina student Nick Klos & myself on BLEAV is live.

Since the day MarShawn Lloyd arrived on campus in 2020, the hype surrounding the running back drew comparisons to the day Marcus Lattimore arrived on campus. But unfortunately for Lloyd, his first year ended with a season-ending ACL injury. An injury that Lattimore knows the struggles with far too well.

“You can’t really prepare for it. People can tell you what it’s gonna be like when you tear your ACL but I was not prepared for what was to come after that,” explained Lattimore on the BLEAV in South Carolina podcast. “It’s so discouraging to see after you tear your ACL your quad muscle just deflate. So you’re looking at this quad muscle that you built for over 18 years and how many squats and how many power cleans and all of these lower body lifts that you built your legs up to this point. But then because a ligament is torn, there’s two weeks of doing nothing, your quad muscle just shrivels up. That image, when I saw that, I was like sh*t. I was depressed.”

Knowing what Lloyd was going through, Lattimore reached out to LLoyd shortly after his injury to provide words of encouragement. But more importantly, just to let him know that he was there for him.

“We exchanged a bunch of texts. We had a conversation. I didn’t want to bombard him. I knew he was getting blown up by everybody when it happened,” Lattimore said. “I just wanted him to know that this does not define you. This does not define your self-worth as a person. You’re going to feel down because you’ve been the guy. You’re the guy that everybody has been looking at probably ever since you were ten years old. And it’s stripped away in an instant.

“So trying to adapt to that quickly, that’s just not easy. How do you get through that? You have to have people in your corner who have gone through that. I just wanted to let him know that I was in his corner if he needed someone to express himself (to) or just talk it out. I just wanted to let him know I was proud of him regardless because I wish everybody could meet him. He’s so much more than just this amazing athlete.”

Knowing what Lloyd is going through, Lattimore noticed the differences in Lloyd’s style last season but knows it’s exactly what he needed.

“Last year we saw him out there, I saw the quickness, oh my goodness. The dude can hit a hole quicker than anybody I’ve ever seen. Was there a little bit of a hesitation because I know what’s going through his mind? Yes, there was a little bit of a hesitation but he went through the season; he put himself out there.”

On a future episode, Lattimore will provide more details about his injuries and the battles he went through to get back out on the field. But. tor provide more context for what Lloyd is going through, he shared how coming back mentally is equally, if not more, important than rehabbing the injury itself.

“The mind and the body work in tandem,” Lattimore said. “What you tell yourself, has a lot to do with your recovery process. What is that internal message that is going on in your head in that time. As much running and jumping in that recovery process, you get to that three month mark and you’re ready to run but the ligament is not healed so now you have three more months so now you’re in this limbo phase and you don’t feel like you’re a part of the team. (There’s) just so many physiological rollercoasters. I wish at the time I would’ve had the courage to express how I felt. Being around MarShawn and seeing his maturity as a young man I don’t think that’s something he’s had a problem with.”

Hear more from Lattimore on this topic, as well as his thoughts on spring ball starting on Tuesday and much more.

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