UM's Doyle says he's transferring to Florida Gulf Coast

Ricky Doyle has found his new home, announcing on Tuesday that he will continue his college-basketball career at Florida Gulf Coast.

Doyle, a 6-foot-9, 250-pound forward, played two seasons at Michigan before exploring a transfer following the 2015-16 season.

By choosing Florida Gulf Coast, he will play in Fort Myers, about a 20-minute drive from his hometown of Cape Coral.

Doyle was one of four players to transfer out of Michigan this offseason, and the third to find his landing spot -- Spike Albrecht will be a graduate transfer for Purdue, and Aubrey Dawkins will play for his father, Johnny, the new head coach at Central Florida. Kameron Chatman remains undecided.

Doyle, who turns 20 at the end of the month, had a promising freshman season, averaging 6.1 points and 3.2 rebounds while averaging 18.2 minutes for the injury-plagued Wolverines.

He had his moments as a sophomore this past season, but struggled with his ball-handling — he cited sweaty palms for his struggles, at times, to hang on to the ball — and also had a serious bout with sleep apnea, he told MLive in early March.

Mark Donnal had a breakthrough performance in the Big Ten opener against Illinois and eventually passed Doyle on the front-court depth chart.
This past season, Doyle averaged 3.8 points and 2.0 rebounds in 12.2 minutes.

With Donnal returning, Moritz Wagner emerging, and Austin Davis and Jon Teske coming in as highly touted freshman, Doyle decided he'd be a better fit elsewhere.

Doyle, per NCAA rules, will have to sit out the 2016-17 season, as will Dawkins and Chatman, each of whom will have two years of eligibility remaining — assuming Chatman doesn't transfer to a Big Ten school, which would cost him a year of eligibility.

Albrecht can play right away, per graduate-transfer rules.

tpaul@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @tonypaul1984