We recently saw former South Carolina and San Francisco 49ers running back Marcus Lattimore forced to retire from the NFL after being unable to perform at the high caliber he was once capable of before suffering back-to-back injuries as a member of the Gamecocks. 

Lattimore, who was a  fourth-round pick for the 49ers in 2013 and star for head coach Steve Spurrier and the Gamecocks while he was healthy, leaves the game without playing one game of professiional football. 

So what now for Lattimore? Well, Lattimore said he would return to the University of South Carolina to complete his degree in public health, which is commendable considering that when the NCAA compliled its four-year graduation success rate for the top football prorams back in 2012, South Carolina had one of the lowest at 55 percent. 

There remains a lot of talk that student-athletes should be given the opportunity to major in sports, a lot like how students are able to major in a discipline like dance.

Supporters of this idea do have a case, in that sports can be spun academically, as it has its history, cases of ethics, in addition to its different applications in business, media and society as a whole. 

However, I think it's important to reemphasize the importance for student-athlete to explore disciplines outside of sports, due to the great amount of uncertainty that goes into the field.

Any athlete, whether they’re an end-of-the-bench scrub, special teams stud or a perennial superstar, unfortunately has to deal with the burden of potentially suffering a career-ending injury every second they’re in the game. 

As plausible as it may be to allow student-athletes to major in sports, I believe that it's imperative that student-athletes "cover their bases" by taking advantage of the academia of their respective institutions, in which a great number of athletes are receiving for free.

Pay and monetary compensation in a professional league is never guaranteed, but the opportunity to learn about a field, in which they can potentially gain employment in one day, is right in front of them. 

According to the NCAA, approxiamtely 1.2 percent of men's basketball players and 1.6 percent of football players ever make it to the professional ranks. 

One State Farm commerical that airs during collegiate sporting events reaffirms these statistics by saying that just about every student-athlete will end up going pro in something else other than sports. 

Over the past week, we’ve witnessed injuries all of sorts, some that are going to sideline players for a couple games or a few weeks, others for an entire season and a couple that are going to end players careers’ perpetually. 

In the professional realm, we saw Los Angeles Lakers’ rookie Julius Randle, the seventh overall pick of the 2014 NBA Draft,  stretchered off the court in just his first NBA game. Randle will be sidelined for the rest of the season with a broken right leg. 

As we’ve seen at times, critical injuries provide players with the opportunity to exercise their true resilience and perseverance like in the cases of Kobe Bryant and Derrick Rose, but in most instances, injuries just simply crush dreams and often end careers. 

The most agonizing injury for me to watch was the one that took its toll on highly touted Washington State quarterback Connor Halliday, who suffered a devastating and potentially career-ending broken ankle injury after his right leg got caught under prospective Top-5 NFL draftee, defensive lineman Leonard Williams. 

Following the game, Williams described how the graphicness of experiencing the injury haunted him and I’m sure that it is something that will resonate with him for the rest of the season, and as he gets closer and closer to the NFL Draft. 

Prior to the injury, Halliday had been one of the most prolific passers in the nation, leading the entire country in passing touchdowns, passing yards and completions per game, while breaking Washington State, Pac-12 and NCAA Division 1 records left and right. 

And just like that, with one wrong turn of his ankle, it appears that all of Halliday’s dreams to one day play professional football all blew up in the air. 

Halliday demonstrated his frustration in this tweet: 

@PappaMeighen 22 years of hard work I was 3 god damn games away from my dream 3 freakin games away from being drafted and living my dream

— Connor Halliday (@c_halliday12) November 2, 2014

These harsh sentiments are worthy, considering that someone who had worked their entire life towards a dream, only then to have it all stripped away from him.

Just take into account the story of former Baylor basketball player Isaiah Austin ,who just a week before the 2014 NBA Draft, was diagnosed with Marfan's Syndrome, a genetic disorder that could have potentially put his life in jeopardy if he continued to play. 

He was just a week away from fulfilling his lifelong dream of playing in the NBA, only to be forced to retire from the game he love and start a new life in another field. 

And for reasons that are apparent in the heartbreaking narratives involving Halliday, Austin and Lattimore,  it’s important that student-athletes explore a discipline outside of their realm an gain knowledge in something other than sports. 

For it only takes one wrong turn of the ankle, clumsy fall, or big crushing body to end a career in athletics for someone who may have dominated in their field for their entire life. And then what? That question is for the student-athletes to answer and the rest is left in the hands of destiny.