When Lake McRee felt a pop in his right knee during bowl practice last December, the USC tight end didn’t think much of it at first. He finished the play, then lined up for another. Even ran a route. McRee may have kept going still, if a coach had not pulled him aside and told him something looked strange in his stride.
The diagnosis, McRee said, was “devastating.” A torn anterior cruciate ligament, his second in just over four years.
The timing was especially cruel. Not only would he miss the Holiday Bowl, which was shaping up to be a breakout moment.