BATON ROUGE, La. — When word got out that Leonard Fournette wasn’t going to make LSU’s trip to Texas A&M because of an ankle injury that has bothered him since August camp, the possibility that we had seen the last of Fournette in an LSU uniform became all too real.

Fournette still has a high ankle sprain, the kind of injury that doesn’t get better without a lot of rest, and as the Tigers head for the Citrus Bowl, it might make more sense for him to sit it out and do what it takes to get ready for the NFL Draft, now that he’s made it official that he plans to enter it early. He did, however, say he will do his best to come back for one more go.

If he can’t, his final junior year rushing statistics are 129 carries for 843 yards in seven games. Not one of those carriers came with him completely healthy. That would complete a three-year career with these numbers: 616 carries, 3,830 yards, 40 touchdowns rushing and 41 receptions for 526 yards and another touchdown. Those are great three-year numbers, especially considering he was only good for about half an unhealthy junior season.

And his last game? A 12-carry, 40-yard game against Florida where he talked the coaches into letting him play after a pre-game scuffle, then was subsequently ineffective.

It would be an unfortunate end to the career of a player who LSU hoped would be its first Heisman Trophy winner since Billy Cannon in 1959, a guy who has been a cult hero in Louisiana since he was a child.

Few players, if any, from Louisiana were more highly regarded as prospects than Fournette, which is saying something, considering the talent that has come out of the state.

His career certainly hasn’t been everything LSU and Fournette hoped it would be. But that’s not because he was disappointing or, as some irrational souls have said, because he had his talents wasted playing for Les Miles.

Not at all. Let’s not make this thing more than what it is.

The “What could have been?” about Fournette at LSU will forever be linked to one event: the fateful day in August camp when he suffered a high-ankle sprain.

Nov 5, 2016; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; LSU Tigers running back Leonard Fournette (7) before a game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at Tiger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Up to that point, the storybook career was in place. Coming in with all the hype in the world, he went through a brief adjustment period, then found his sea legs and rushed for 1,034 yards as a true freshman. Then, as a sophomore, he became the stuff of legend, with huge games against Auburn, Syracuse and Eastern Michigan — consecutive 200-yard rushing games. He finished with 1,953 yards.

Sure, he was stuffed by Alabama. Still, he should have been a Heisman Trophy finalist.

That set him up for this year, and …

He suffered an injury that puts athletes in Purgatory. And he suffered it before the first play of the season.

The high sprain is not so severe of an injury to shut down a player, but it’s also one that only gets better with a lot of rest. The player must decide: miss a sizable chunk of the season or play compromised all year.

And that was Fournette this year. Every time it got well enough, he’d tape it up and play. But then he’d aggravate it, or get it bruised – people always tried to tackle him low because, would you try to tackle that 230-pound load high? – and it would send him back to the sidelines.

So only on that school-record 284-yard rushing day against Ole Miss earlier this season did we see what Fournette could have been this year. Otherwise, what we saw was “Three-Fourths” Fournette this year.

The NFL – we’d all hope – won’t see that version of him. He’ll rest — maybe after the Citrus Bowl, maybe sooner than that if they can’t get him ready — and be ready to show NFL fans what we wished we saw this season in purple and gold..

He’ll be somebody’s high draft pick and by next season, when he’s getting paid to be the guy, he’ll be 100 percent and he’ll be something to see.

And we’ll be saying it’s a shame we didn’t get to see that his last year at LSU.

It’s a shame he didn’t become LSU’s all-time leading rusher because he is the best running back ever to play at the school.

It’s a shame he didn’t get to a Heisman Trophy presentation, because he’s that kind of player.

It’s a shame he didn’t play for a national championship and instead had to endure coaching controversy and a mid-season coaching change. That championship is the only thing that might not have been attainable had he been completely healthy because, let’s face it, Alabama is that good.

But make no mistake, he chose the right place to play.

Playing for Louisiana is something he was meant to do. And playing in Les Miles’ old-school, I-formation offense was something he is physically built to do. He’s a running back built to dot an I and follow a fullback through the hole.

And how many programs still do that? So playing at LSU has served him well.

Until one, fateful August day when he hurt his ankle at camp.

And that killed some of his ambitions.

That, and nothing else.