After withdrawing his name from the transfer portal on Jan. 31, junior running back Dylan McDuffie reentered the portal last Friday, according to posts on his social media accounts.
“Thank you to Coach [Lance] Leipold for giving me the opportunity to join this program and help develop me in his time here,” McDuffie wrote in his post “I want to give a special thank you to Coach Mo [Maurice Linguist]. I will cherish my short time being able to play for you.”
The Buffalo native was the lead back for the first time during the 2021 season after Kevin Marks Jr. suffered a season-ending injury. McDuffie led the Bulls in rushing and ranked fourth in the Mid-American Conference with 1,049 rushing yards. The third-team All-MAC selection scored 11 touchdowns during his junior campaign.
McDuffie entered the transfer portal last December but withdrew his name in January after UB added running backs coach Greg Knox to the coaching staff, according to The Buffalo News.
“He coached a lot of NFL guys, and we sat down and talked about a lot of things. Football, life, how he could make me a better back, a better person and an NFL prospect. He has 27 years of coaching [experience] in the SEC, and if anyone can help me, it’s him,” McDuffie told The Buffalo News in late January.
A Buffalo native, McDuffie was named All-WNY second team as a junior at nearby Sweet Home High School. He chose UB over MAC rivals Central and Western Michigan and Ohio. He has two years of eligibility remaining, after redshirting his freshman season and receiving an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Senior running back Ron Cook Jr. — a two-time All-MAC kick returner — seems poised to take over McDuffie as the featured back.
McDuffie has not committed to a new school yet, but he has received offers from Virginia, Duke, Florida Atlantic, Western Kentucky, Oklahoma State and the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) since entering the portal on Thursday.
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Photo: Ryan Hagen | UB Athletics
