South Carolina had two strength and conditioning coaches when Marcus Lattimore was on the Gamecocks football team. And though he doesn't specify whether it was the fault of Craig Fitzgerald (now with the Houston Texans) or Joe Connolly (now at UMass), both, or neither, he thinks the Carolina weight program was responsible for more injuries than it should have been.

Speaking about player safety at the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, Lattimore offered the following observations:

Marcus Lattimore says he and other players questioned some of the strength and conditioning program in college. — Jon Solomon (@JonSolomonCBS) May 10, 2016

Lattimore: 9 of 15 players he spoke with got injured in weight room. He wonders if some injuries could be prevented with better hires. — Jon Solomon (@JonSolomonCBS) May 10, 2016

Lattimore says he was told some strength and conditioning coaches were hired due to their connection to the head coach. — Jon Solomon (@JonSolomonCBS) May 10, 2016

Now, there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical of Lattimore's sample size and polling methodology, but overworking athletes in the weight room is a concern in all sports that incorporate weight training. And Lattimore's injury history makes him a credible first-person source on the issue of athlete injuries.

If Fitzgerald or Connolly were hired for no other reason but their connection to Steve Spurrier, that would obviously be a concern – and there was certainly plenty of reason to question the HBC's hiring practices during the back end of his time in Columbia. But whether that was the case can only be known by Steve Spurrier himself. Besides, the business of hiring assistants is fueled by connections as much as anything else. South Carolina's new strength and conditioning director, Jeff Dillman, worked in the same capacity for Will Muschamp for three years in Gainesville.

It's worth noting that Lattimore's season-ending knee injuries at South Carolina in 2011 and 2012 were the result of traumatic contact injuries on the field of play and likely had nothing to do with the quality of the strength program. Lattimore likely understands this and is attempting to make a point completely separate of those events.

Lattimore also revealed that he didn't feel comfortable opening up to South Carolina's in-house sports psychologist after his knee injury.

Marcus Lattimore said after his injury he didn't feel comfortable "whatsoever" talking to a sports psychologist who was part of SC's team. — Jon Solomon (@JonSolomonCBS) May 10, 2016