Former Auburn and Arkansas State running back Michael Dyer has landed at a junior college near his home in Little Rock, Arkansas, but football won’t be in his immediate future.
The former offensive MVP of the 2011 BCS National Championship Game has enrolled at Arkansas Baptist College, but will be working towards an associate’s degree rather than playing football for the Buffaloes.
The move is the latest for Dyer, who wore out his welcome at Auburn last fall before transferring to Arkansas State this past January and quickly running amiss with authorities there as well.
Arkansas Baptist College president Dr. Fitzgerald Hill, a former San Jose State head football coach, confirmed the news during an interview with a local radio station.
“There have been growing pains and bad decisions,” said Dyer’s uncle, Andre Dyer. “So much attention and so many influences from so many decisions. I just want him to be the young man he was when he left Little Rock.”
Dyer was an immediate sensation at Auburn during the 2010 season, rushing for 1,093 yards and five touchdowns to help the Tigers claim the national championship. That total easily eclipsed Bo Jackson’s single-season freshman record of 892 yards set in 1982.
Dyer followed up that initial success up by chewing up 1,242 yards and 10 touchdowns last fall, only to be suspended indefinitely by Auburn coach Gene Chizik for violating unspecified team rules prior to the Chick-fil-A Bowl.
The first-team All-SEC pick soon followed former Tigers offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn to Arkansas State, but the NCAA denied his request to be eligible right away to play for the Red Wolves.
Malzahn, who had helped recruit Dyer to Auburn, later dismissed the running back from the team in late July following a traffic stop in March in which a gun and marijuana were found in his car.
Dyer will be eligible for the 2013 NFL Draft, meaning it’s unlikely he’ll play collegiately for anybody else.
