The last time we heard from Michael Sam was in mid-August when the former SEC Defensive Player of the Year announced he was going to step away from football for a little bit.
At the time, Sam had been playing on and off in the CFL for about three months.
Sam, who was the first openly gay player to be drafted by an NFL team, told ABC-17 in Missouri on Thursday that he plans to try and make a return to the NFL in 2016.
"I'll try to pursue my NFL career," Sam said. "Taking a break this year was very smart. I think it was one of the smartest things I've done in a long time."
Sam hasn't been in the NFL since October 2014, when he was cut from the Dallas Cowboys practice squad. Before that, Sam had been with the St. Louis Rams, who drafted him in the seventh round of the 2014 NFL Draft.
If Sam does sign with a new team next season, the deal will have to be worked out by a new agent, who Sam has yet to hire.
"I let go of my agent recently and I also let go of my publicist," Sam said. "Right now I'm just focusing on me."
If football doesn't work out, Sam does have other career plans.
"It's been a roller coaster," Sam said of his life. "I've been trying to figure out what's next in my life. I've just come to a conclusion, as I take this break from football, I want to focus on my media training, just try to get into broadcasting and commentating."
Sam said that seeing himself in the media so often made him want to be a part of it.
"Since I came out [as gay] in February 2014, I realized that I've been in the media for so long and so much, that I've kind of gotten used to it," Sam said. "I wanted to wet my feet a little bit and see if this could be a career of mine in the future."
For now, Sam is going to live in his college town of Columbia, Mo., where he'll work toward his master's degree and continue to work out.
"[I'm] just refocused on me and what my needs are and what's best for Michael Sam and I think as I continue on training at the University of Missouri where I was SEC Defensive player of the year and an All-American, I think I can go to a better place," Sam said.
