University of Michigan true freshman tailback Sam McGuffie will no longer be wearing the maize and blue. The 5-foot-11, 185-pound Houston, Tex. native confirmed to
Rivals.com that he received his official release from the university on Friday morning.
"I just got out of the compliance office and picked up my release," said McGuffie. "They gave me a full release – no restrictions. I will be somewhere else in January."
McGuffie says the decision to transfer was not an easy one and he did not take it lightly.
"It's just been weighing on me for a while," he said. "There are a number of factors that went into [the decision]. It's nothing against the Michigan football team or the university. I felt that I had to what is best for myself and my family."
McGuffie does not have a future destination set, but did mention that he would prefer to be closer to his hometown.
"I'm looking to stay in or around Texas," he said. "There are a couple of schools that I'm interested in such as Texas A&M, Texas Tech, TCU, Oklahoma State and a couple of others."
He did say that Texas A&M would likely be considered the frontrunner as of right now.
"They were one of my top teams last year," McGuffie said of the Aggies. "I have a former teammate,
Chris Lathrop, that signed with them last year and he loves it. I've talked to him a bunch about it. I know a lot of guys on the team there and I have a bunch of friends from home that go there, too."
McGuffie, a four-star prospect coming out of Cy-Fair High School a year ago, made a significant contribution as a freshman with the Wolverines this year. He started the first six games of the season and finished as the team's second-leading rusher and third-leading receiver, despite missing two games with injuries.
His best performance of the year came against Notre Dame, where he rushed for 138 yards and had four receptions for 47 yards and a touchdown. He ended the season with 486 yards and three touchdowns rushing as well as 19 receptions for 175 yards and one touchdown. In addition, he averaged 21.1 yards on seven kickoff returns.
McGuffie will have to sit out a year if he transfers to another Football Bowl Subdivision school. He will then have three years of eligibility remaining.
