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Former Bulldog Turman finds a new home, but will miss UGA

Former Dawg A.J. Turman told UGASports.com he is transferring to Florida Atlantic. (Georgia Sports Information)

Former Georgia running back A.J. Turman has found a new home.

On Friday, UGASports.com was the first to report that the Orlando native would in fact be staying closer to home after picking Florida Atlantic located in Boca Raton.

He will have to sit out the upcoming season due to the NCAA’s transfer rule, but intends on applying for a sixth-year medical redshirt.

Turman said he’ll arrive on campus Aug. 1 in time to go through preseason drills with the Owls.

“It’s exciting. I’m just blessed to have the opportunity to go to FAU,” Turman said in a telephone interview. “I love the coaches, the atmosphere, everything. Of course, I’m going to miss Georgia, my friends, the fans … I’m going to miss it all, but I’m excited and happy. I can’t wait to get out there and compete.”

Turman said the Owls weren’t the only schools that showed interest.

“I had a lot of phone calls from a lot of different schools and everything. A lot of smaller schools called me, I was getting phone calls non-stop every day,” Turman said. “I visited UCF (Central Florida) and a couple of other schools that were interested in me, but after the restrictions I had it set in my mind that I was going to stay in Florida.”

He has eight more classes to take before earning his degree.

Turman, who decided to transfer in the spring, became part of a bigger story after it was revealed that head coach Kirby Smart would only release him from his scholarship under the condition that he could not go to Miami under former Bulldog coach Mark Richt, or to SEC rival Florida.

Smart later amended the restriction to include all SEC schools, but left Turman with the option of staying in his home state of Florida if he so desired.

“I’m so happy that it’s finally over. It was real crazy,” said Turman, who never saw any game action his three years in Athens. “I was just blessed that I got released from Georgia, that was the roughest process.”

But he’s not leaving with any ill will.

Oh no, there’s no hard feelings at all,” Turman said. “I just didn’t know the coaching staff. There’s no hard feelings at all.”

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