2012-GameRelease-Divisional

“Once Chris made the decision to go to South Carolina,” Garner head coach Nelson Smith said, “you’d
always see this kid walking down the hallway with a huge smile on his face.”
Though Culliver had discovered the correlation between hard work and success, his brush with death
reinforced it.
In February 2009, Payne drove 220 miles from Garner to Columbia at 5 a.m. after learning about
Culliver’s condition. When he arrived, he was shaken by the sight of Culliver lying motionless and
breathing through a machine.
“To see him in that bed, not knowing which way it was going to turn,” Payne said. “But by the grace of
God, he pulled through and everything worked out for the best. He’d already shown signs of really
maturing. But that was a big thing that got him together. It’s a big lesson. One day you can be here, and
one day you can be gone.”
In contrast with the day more than three years ago when he awoke disoriented, Culliver has clarity.
As he soaked in an ice tub outside the 49ers’ locker room, he said he has added to what was already a
substantial rookie workload. In his second season, he’s lifting even more weights, poring over even more
video and arriving at the facility even earlier than he did last year.
It’s hard work, but for Culliver, it’s also something else: a way to cherish every day.