Edward Aschoff, ESPN Staff Writer 11y

LSU's Sam Montgomery to honor Lattimore

The enormous amount of support for South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore just keeps coming.

LSU defensive end Sam Montgomery, a South Carolina native, plans to wear Lattimore's No. 21 on his arm for the rest of the season in honor of Lattimore, who went down with a gruesome season-ending knee injury against Tennessee over the weekend.

LSU coach Les Miles said on Wednesday's SEC coaches call that he hadn't spoken to Montgomery about his gesture toward Lattimore, but wasn't surprised Montgomery would do such a thing for someone not wearing LSU colors.

"I recognize that Sam has a care for people," Miles said. "He 's a guy that has a perspective that's widespread."

Montgomery suffered his own season-ending knee injury during his freshman season, and while it wasn't near as serious as Lattimore's, he does have some sort of perspective of what Marcus is going through.

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier appreciated Montgomery's decision to honor Lattimore, and like Miles, wasn't surprised by the respect thrown Lattimore's way since Saturday.

"Marcus Lattimore is probably the most popular player to ever play here at South Carolina," Spurrier said. "He's such a wonderful young man, well respected by all his opponents. Usually in the game of football there's a little mouthing going on -- 'You can't tackle me,' 'You ain't that tough -- but I've never seen anybody do any trash talking with Marcus. Of course, he never says anything. He just runs the ball as hard as he can every time he touches it."

Spurrier also added that tight end Justice Cunningham wore Lattimore's No. 21 in practice Tuesday.

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