With the NFL Scouting Combine starting this week, Marcus Lattimore is laying the ground work even though he won’t be working out.

Lattimore, who suffered a horrendous knee injury midway through last season, said on a South Carolina radio show last week that NFL doctors will be surprised by his progress, according to MidlandsConnect.com.

During an appearance on USC’s weekly radio program “Inside the Roost” Monday night, Lattimore said he is way ahead of schedule in his recovery from knee surgery, and the doctors who evaluate him at this week’s NFL combine “will be shocked, I can tell you that.”

Lattimore is set to attend the combine in Indianapolis Thursday through Sunday. He is not expected to participate in any of the physical drills at the annual event but says he plans to start running the Monday after the combine saying “it’s game on” at that point.

South Carolina’s all-time touchdown leader says world-renowned sports medicine guru, Dr. James Andrews, will accompany him to Indianapolis to help answer any questions teams may have about Lattimore’s injury, surgery and recovery.

It’s not the first time he’s used that quote. He said the same words to the NFL Network’s “NFL AM” last month.

His rehab timeline is an aggressive one. Lattimore said Wednesday that he plans to be ready for the start of the 2013 NFL season.

“I believe in myself,” Lattimore told “NFL AM.” “Dr. (James) Andrews actually said, ‘You’re going to shock the world,’ so I quoted him. And I really do believe I’ll be ready. I’m going at a rate that I knew I could, and I feel great. When I start jogging and I get a little bit stronger, I know it’s game on then.”

– Bill Bradley, contributing editor