Top 10 Highlights of Marcus Lattimore's Career

The professional career of one of college football's best running backs this past decade came to a far-too-soon end with Wednesday's announcement that Marcus Lattimore was retiring at the age of 23.

A fourth-round pick of the San Francisco 49ers in 2013, Lattimore's NFL tenure consisted of two seasons spent on his team's non-football injury list without ever playing in a game. Lingering issues related to two devastating knee injuries suffered while in college led to his early retirement.

"Unfortunately, getting my knee fully back to the level the NFL demands has proven to be insurmountable," Lattimore said in a statement released by the 49ers, according to NFL.com's Chris Wesseling.

Lattimore ran for 2,677 yards and 38 touchdowns over three seasons in college at South Carolina, including 1,197 yards with 17 TDs as a true freshman in 2010. Knee injuries cut short his sophomore and junior years, but in August 2012 he ran for 110 yards and two TDs against Vanderbilt just 10 months after surgery.

Lattimore never got a chance to show what he could do during an NFL game, but there are plenty of highlights from his collegiate days. Scroll through for the most notable moments of his short career.

10. The First of Many Touchdowns

Marcus Lattimore scored 41 times in 29 career games for South Carolina, including three times as a receiver. The former 247Sports 5-star recruit from Byrnes, South Carolina, wasted little time endearing himself to the Gamecocks fans at Williams-Brice Stadium, scoring on a three-yard run midway through the second quarter of the season-opening win over Southern Mississippi on Sept. 2, 2010.

Lattimore would go on to score again that quarter, finishing with 54 yards on 14 carries in the 41-13 victory.

9. Georgia on His Mind

Marcus Lattimore was dominant against most opponents during his college career, but none more so than Georgia. In three games against the Bulldogs, he ran for 467 yards and four touchdowns, including a 109-yard, one-TD performance in his final matchup with them on Oct. 6, 2012.

The game wasn't much of a contest, as South Carolina won 35-7, with Lattimore's one-yard scoring run in the third quarter making it 28-0. But the game had significance in that it was the school-record 10th straight victory.

8. The Final Trip to the End Zone

Nobody at Williams-Brice Stadium on Oct. 27, 2012 had any idea they were attending the final game of Marcus Lattimore's storied career at South Carolina. But after the junior running back suffered a second major knee injury in as many seasons, the 38-35 win over Tennessee proved to be the last outing for him in a Gamecocks uniform.

Before getting hurt just before halftime, however, Lattimore scored his 41st career touchdown on a 28-yard run with 8:22 left in the second quarter.

7. Open-Field Speed

Marcus Lattimore had 74 receptions in his college career, scoring three times. By far the most notable reception he made came on Sept. 24, 2011 in a 21-3 win over Vanderbilt.

With South Carolina leading 7-3 just before halftime, quarterback Stephen Garcia dropped back as if to go deep but ended up hitting Lattimore with a screen pass off the right side. The rest was all Lattimore, who juked out a few Commodores and raced past the rest en route to a 52-yard touchdown catch.

6. Career-High Rushing Night vs. Navy

In what should have been a relatively easy game for South Carolina, the team found itself trailing visiting Navy early in the fourth quarter. Thankfully, the Gamecocks had Marcus Lattimore to turn to, something they did on 26 of their 37 second-half snaps.

Lattimore's seven-yard touchdown, his third of the night, gave South Carolina a 24-21 win on Sept. 17, 2011. The sophomore finished with a career-best 246 yards, the most ever by a running back coached by Steve Spurrier.

5. The Division Title Clincher

South Carolina has won the East Division only once, during Marcus Lattimore's freshman year in 2010. To achieve that feat, the Gamecocks had to go to coach Steve Spurrier's old stomping grounds and beat Florida in the Swamp.

They did so quite easily, winning 36-14 on Nov. 13, 2010 behind three touchdowns and a career-high (eventually broken) 212 yards from Lattimore. The above 21-yard TD made it 22-7 early in the third quarter; it was one of his 40 carries on the night.

4. The Coming-out Party vs. Georgia

Marcus Lattimore had 11 career 100-yard games at South Carolina, with the first coming in just his second game. And being that it came against rival Georgia, the true freshman's performance was that much more notable.

Lattimore carried it 37 times for 182 yards and two touchdowns in the Gamecocks' 17-6 home win over the Bulldogs on Sept. 11, 2010. It would be one of three games he'd carry the ball that many times.

3. The Comeback Kid

A devastating knee injury cut short Marcus Lattimore's sophomore year, which ended in October 2011 against Mississippi State. He vowed to return, stronger than ever, but nobody knew just how he'd look until he hit the field in an actual game.

That return came in the 2012 season opener, at Vanderbilt on Aug. 30. A little more than 10 months removed from surgery, Lattimore ran for 110 yards and two touchdowns in the 17-13 win. He scored on a 29-yard run in the first quarter and then gave the Gamecocks the lead in the fourth on a one-yard score.

2. Dominating No. 1 Alabama

With 93 yards on 23 carries, Marcus Lattimore's numbers in his only clash with Alabama were far from his best. But considering the magnitude of the game and the historic nature of South Carolina's 35-21 win over the top-ranked Crimson Tide, what Lattimore did that afternoon transcended numbers.

Lattimore scored three times in that Oct. 9, 2010 win, punching it in on a pair of short runs in the second half and giving the Gamecocks a 7-3 lead in the first quarter with his first career receiving TD.

1. The Record-Breaking Score

Marcus Lattimore holds the South Carolina career record for rushing touchdowns (38) and total scores (41). He set the rushing TD mark previously held by Harold Green and George Rogers during a blowout win over Missouri on Sept. 22, 2012, when he scored on a two-yard run early in the first quarter.

Lattimore would finish with 85 yards and two TDs in the 31-10 victory.

Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.