SEC Championship: Lattimore, Dyer cut from same cloth

By Ray Glier

For the AJC

South Carolina’s Marcus Lattimore and Auburn’s Michael Dyer did not have any patience for the incubation period that typically goes with being a freshman in the Southeastern Conference. They rolled out of their high school graduation ceremonies and straight into the SEC disguised as upperclassmen.

Lattimore ran for 182 yards in his second game.

Dyer ran for 100 yards in his fourth game.

Lattimore bruised Florida’s defense for 212 yards.

Dyer bruised and then broke the freshman rushing mark of Auburn great Bo Jackson.

The two running backs, who will share the stage in the SEC Championship game on Saturday, seemed to have their minds made up that they weren’t going to wait for an invitation to have an impact on the SEC.

“Just speaking for myself, not for him, when I get the ball in my hands, I don’t feel like a freshman,” Dyer said.

This was supposed to be the season Alabama’s two running backs, Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson, dominated the spotlight for the defending national champions. But Lattimore and Dyer gave their teams some hurry-up offense.

Lattimore, who is 5 feet 11 and 215 pounds, ran for 1,114 yards in 11 games and scored 19 touchdowns for the 9-3 Gamecocks. He is also an asset in the passing game with 23 catches for 328 yards.

Dyer rushed for 886 yards, breaking Jackson’s mark of 829 yards set in 1982. He is a 5-9, 215-pound dynamo who is so low to the ground, he looks like a bowling ball of knee pads and shoulder pads blowing through the gaps.

Lattimore and Dyer came close to being in the same backfield together at Auburn, which could have meant sharing the football with Heisman Trophy candidate Cameron Newton. Lattimore, who is from Duncan, S.C., picked South Carolina over Auburn and has been a featured asset for USC.

They are different backs operating inside different offenses. South Carolina features a more traditional run game while Auburn’s slot machine offense, filled with reverses and options, sets up Dyer for tackle-to-tackle runs.

Dyer, from Little Rock, got his yards even as teams closed in around Newton. The Tigers prefer to spread the field for run lanes, but when opponents started pinching ends, moving fronts and positioning more bodies inside, Dyer still found room. He ran for 100 yards against South Carolina in the first meeting Sept. 25.

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“You never know how the tailbacks are going to respond, the young guys, simply because there's so many things other than running the football that they've got to do,” Auburn coach Gene Chizik said. “We didn't know. We felt good. We felt like he would get playing time. We felt like he would get better as the year went on and he has really done that.”

What helps just as much as those thighs and shoulder pads is determination. Dyer is one of 13 children. He sees himself as the grocery-getter of the family, the one who made it to college and can support his household.

“I had a tough situation back home and I need to make something happen in my career at Auburn,” Dyer said. “It drives me to make sure I succeed in academics and football. I’m the first one to go to college and everybody is depending on me to make something happen out of my career here.”

Lattimore is bigger, stronger version of Dyer. He can go inside, but he can also bounce outside. In his second collegiate game, he carried the Gamecocks past Georgia with 182 yards rushing.

"The Georgia game is when we realized this guy could really play," USC coach Steve Spurrier told reporters earlier this season. "I think it was the first third-and-11 and we handed off the draw play to him and he broke a couple tackles, made about 15 yards. We said, ‘Well, let's give it to him again and see what happens.' He breaks about two tackles at the line of scrimmage, makes about eight yards. [We're thinking], ‘This ain't bad here.'"

Lattimore was not the starter at the beginning of the season, but it had nothing to do with a lack of ability.

“We didn't start him the first game," Spurrier said. "One reason was, I said, ‘Marcus, I don't want anybody to think I told you when I was recruiting that you would start the first game.' He said, ‘I understand, Coach. Just get me in early.' I said, ‘You'll be in early. Don't worry.’ I think he was in the second possession.

“He didn't get a bunch of carries [in the opener] against Southern Miss ... [14 carries for 54 yards] The next game was when he opened everybody's eyes against Georgia and had 37 carries for 180-something yards. And that's when we noticed he was breaking tackles all over the place. That's when we realized we've really got a special player here.”

What further differentiates Lattimore are sure hands in the passing game. Wide receiver Alshon Jeffery can clear out one side of the field and Lattimore can come wheeling out of the backfield for a reception with open field, which can turn into a big gain. Lattimore set the school single-season record for touchdowns (19), which included two touchdown receptions.

“He's just a total tailback, running back,” Spurrier said. “He can do it all. He can block, too. He can go in there, chip off those defensive ends. He does everything you ask. And he's just a wonderful young man, wonderful family. And when your star players are really good teammates, you have a chance to achieve a lot as a team.”