The Michael Dyer saga: From Auburn to Arkansas State to Arkansas Baptist and on

The 22-year-old had reportedly narrowed down his choices to Louisville and USF, and in the past few days talk of Louisville really began to heat up. He apparently made his decision Thursday, but it didn’t become official, as Charlie Strong wouldn’t confirm the team had added the running back. Now we know, and the conference-favorite Cardinals have another weapon.

Dyer’s story is a long one. It started back at Auburn in the team’s 2010 national title year, when he had 143 yards rushing to beat Oregon in the national championship and improved on that season with 1,242 yards rushing in 2011. But he was suspended from the team, involved in Auburn’s mass robbery arrest, transferred to Arkansas State, and then was kicked off Arkansas State following an arrest. He spent last year at Arkansas Baptist University not playing football.

Schad reported on July 1 that Dyer had received interest from Troy and Western Kentucky out of the Sun Belt, as well as Illinois State. At that point in time Dyer said he wanted to be enrolled at one of those schools over the next 10 days, but that did not materialize. He has said he would prefer to play for Arkansas, even as a walk-on, but that does not appear to be an option for him.

Dyer had a couple of successful seasons for Auburn but hasn’t played a down of college football since a drug suspension in Dec. of 2011 resulted in his departure from the school. He moved on to Arkansas State, where he did not last long, and after that chose to focus on academics at Arkansas Baptist College, where he recently earned an associate’s degree.

Regardless of offers from other teams, “If Arkansas said I could walk on, I’d go walk on at Arkansas,” Dyer told USA TODAY Sports. He attended high school in Little Rock and most recently spent time at Arkansas Baptist College, where he earned an associate’s degree in June. The opportunity with the Razorbacks may not materialize, though. A source indicated to USA TODAY Sports that the school isn’t keen on allowing Dyer to enroll.

Dyer began his college career at Auburn, where he posted back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons and helped the Tigers win a BCS title. He was suspended in Dec. 2011 for a failed drug test, which would lead him to Arkansas State, where he again ran into trouble. He never played a down for the Red Wolves.

Michael Dyer, whose play was key for Auburn as they won the 2011 BCS National Championship Game, hopes he can make his return to football this upcoming year, but it doesn’t look like he’ll be able to do it at a BCS squad as previously hoped.

The last we heard of Dyer, he was interested in playing at TCU, and there were also reports that he was interested in playing for Arkansas as a walk-on. However, those opportunities, as well as an opportunity at Louisville have apparently fallen through, with all those teams rescinding prior interest: ESPN’s Joe Schad reports that the running back has heard from Sun Belt squads Western Kentucky and Troy, as well as FCS Illinois State, and that he’d like to be enrolled at one of the schools within two weeks. A grain of salt is required: previous reports of Dyer’s interest at various schools have also come from Schad with Dyer’s uncle as the primary source, and that’s the same situation we have here.

Dyer’s uncle spoke with ESPN’s Joe Schad, and said that his nephew would prefer to play for a school in Arkansas, Texas, or Oklahoma, though TCU is the only school that has been mentioned by name as an option. Former Auburn assistant Curtis Luper is on staff with the Horned Frogs, and he was part of the staff that originally recruited Dyer to Auburn.

Dyer’s uncle also mentioned to Schad that the former five-star recruit would be open to returning to Auburn, but considering he’s been kicked off Gus Malzahn teams twice already, it doesn’t really seem like a great fit.

In the course of one offseason, Dyer’s had two break-ups with college football programs - he left the aforementioned Tigers of a Auburn after unspecified violations caused him to miss the Chick-Fil-A Bowl, and was booted from Arkansas State for the old hand gun / speeding / weed trio.

Dyer intended on playing for ASU because of its proximity to his hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas, and new head coach Gus Mahlzahn, his former offensive coordinator at Auburn. Schad is also reporting that Dyer plans to enroll at a school near Little Rock for the coming academic year.

Update: Or maybe not.

↵In 2011, Michael Dyer and Isaiah Crowell combined for 180 yards when Auburn played Georgia. They will probably either run for many more than that this time around, or run for like none at all somehow.

The Arkansas Times cites a paywalled Jonesboro Sun report in saying that Dyer was stopped with a gun and a substance believed to be marijuana in March, for which he was given a fine. The Sun also quotes the officer involved as saying “Carrying a pistol around? Uncool ... You’ve got a career ahead of you but you’re being a total dumbass right now.”

If you would like to hear that, Rivals’ Arkansas State site has audio of the stop. (MP3 here.) It sounds like a talented athlete throwing a second chance away, and the heartbreaking part is that Dyer seems to realize it.

As a freshman, Dyer was the MVP of the 2010 national championship game, rushing for 143 yards on 22 carries in Auburn’s 22-19 victory over Oregon.

As a sophomore, Dyer was the Tigers leading rusher in 2011, but he was suspended before Auburn’s bowl game due to his connection to an armed robbery by four of his teammates, although he was never charged.

That’s at least how it stands for the time being. If the plan goes through, his next game will be in 2013 against Auburn, from whence he just transferred.

How’s his coach feel about this?

And now Dyer may be transferring again: ArkansasSports360.com reports that Malzahn told the Scott Van Pelt Show on ESPN Radio that a waiver that would have made Dyer eligible to play in 2012 was denied and that Dyer will meet to discuss his future with the Red Wolves. The school has scheduled a press conference for 1 p.m. Central on Friday, likely to announce Dyer’s decision.

Dyer would only have been eligible to play at Arkansas State in 2012 with a successful waiver appeal, but could still, in theory, transfer to an FCS or Division II school and be immediately eligible to play.

Dyer will have two years of eligibility remaining. Unless he is granted a waiver by the NCAA, he will have to sit out the 2012 season. There may be some kind of special circumstance in the works as the university said they are still “unsure” whether or not Dyer will play in 2012.

Dyer is from Arkansas, having attended Little Rock Christian Academy before enrolling at Auburn. He finished his high school career with 8,097 yards rushing and 84 touchdowns, including 2,502 yards and 31 scores as a senior. During his two seasons with Auburn, Dyer rushed for 2,335 yards and 15 touchdowns.

Yet feels like the word lingering in the air at the end of that quote. Unless a rumor spread throughout Arkansas State’s campus that was so convincing it got players sure enough to tweet about it -- who could imagine college students tweeting ill-advisedly? -- there’s a lot of smoke here.

Still, it could all be just one big rumor fueled by Auburn’s general air of attrition.

Gus Malzahn met with the media at Arkansas State on Wednesday as he was introduced as the team’s next head coach. For Malzahn, one of the highest-paid assistant coaches in the country, the move comes as a surprise in some ways, and not in others. He’s a native of the state and was reportedly recruited for the job by Hugh Freeze, resulting in his decision to move from an SEC coordinator job to a Sun Belt head coaching job.

Malzahn called the Arkansas State job the right fit at the right time. He said he’d explored other head coaching jobs in the last two years, having got the bug to become a head coach, but wanted to wait for the right opportunity to present itself.