Ohio State cornerback Marshon Lattimore had to take up for himself during the Scouting Combine, after a report that his hamstring tightened up during his workout.
And after his pro day workout Thursday, he wondered why people kept bringing it up.
Via Austin Ward of ESPN.com, Lattimore said there was nothing wrong with either of his hamstrings and that the hip flexor issue which caused him to cut short his Indianapolis workout was fine too.
“That’s why I tweeted that,” Lattimore said. “Yeah, I wanted to clear it up. It is what it is.
“Man, there’s going to be people that try to bring you down. They didn’t even know what was going on. I didn’t grab my hamstring or anything like that, they just thought it was my hamstring. It is what it is, but, you know, I’m good. I had to come out here and show them [the athleticism], and another reason I tried to come out here was to show them I’m not injured.”
Of course, there’s a reason for the concern. A torn left hamstring cost him his 2014 season and a strain in the right one kept him on the sidelines for most of 2015. Despite only one full year of starting, he figures to be one of the top cornerbacks in a talented pool in this year’s draft, and a likely top-10 pick.
He stood on his combine testing numbers, and did positional drills at yesterday’s pro day.
“I just wanted to show my quickness, that I’m smooth, I can do everything,” Lattimore said. “Because I didn’t do anything at the combine. … [The hip flexor] wasn’t really bad, but they told me just not to try to hurt myself by going back out there.
“So I just had to show them that what I can do. I didn’t put any pressure on myself, because I knew I wasn’t injured like that. I was just ready to show them what I can do.”
His history will make teams wary, or at least cause them to do their own research. But if they trust he’s past those previous problems, there’s nothing about his play which suggests a concern.