Since taking a medical retirement more than 15 months ago Thomas Tyner has been as busy as any college kid. He's attended classes at the University of Oregon. He's gone fishing and hunting for birds. And now, he's making a football comeback.

It will come in an Oregon State uniform.

Tyner requested his release from the University of Oregon on Friday. At 9 a.m. on Saturday morning it became official and the former five-star running back who once rushed for 644 yards and scored 10 touchdowns in a single game for Aloha High School prepared to talk with Beavers coach Gary Andersen about playing for OSU next season.

"I've wanted to be a Beaver my whole life," Tyner said.

It's been a long road back for Tyner, who suffered two shoulder injuries and sat out the entire 2015 season before quitting football in Feb. 2016. His right shoulder (torn labrum) was injured his sophomore season of high school football. His left, blown to pieces by Washington's Shaq Thompson on a kickoff his sophomore college season, had a floating bone fragment in the joint.

"I feel 100 percent," he said on Saturday. "I've had two years of being free, not doing any sports or anything. I think it's time for me to get back. My football career didn't end the way I wanted it to and I think I owe it to myself and everyone who looked up to me.

"I wasn't satisfied with how it ended."

When Tyner took the medical retirement at age 21 I wondered in print if he might return to football some day. I wondered how much of his departure from the sport he loved had to do with what a high-stakes game it had turned into during his time at Oregon. When Tyner was injured the Ducks had a loaded backfield, led by Royce Freeman. And so when Tyner slipped out of uniform with those two bad shoulders, it was a series of small steps from the huddle to UO training room to being gone from football altogether.

He's a thoughtful kid with a pile of interests outside of athletics. Tyner is uncomfortable with the spotlight, and doesn't like to be in front of a microphone. He doesn't even really follow sports. Tyner is the anti-celebrity, born into a 5-foot-11, 201-pound bowling-ball of a body. His speed and strength made him great at football, but he mostly wanted to hunt and fish.

He's messaged me often in the last 12 months, announcing, "Let's get some Fall Chinook!" and on another occasion, "I'm hunting today, won't be on the phone much."

Then, something interesting happened.

Tyner started talking and thinking about football again. He was on campus at Oregon going to school, but following Oregon State's 4-8 season closely. Could he really make a comeback after two full seasons off? And would he really be willing to jump across a Civil War rivalry and suit up in his final season of eligibility for OSU?

"I used to go to their games all the time as a kid," Tyner said.

The NCAA prohibits a medical retiree from returning to play at that same university. He couldn't play at Oregon. It's not an option. So really this isn't about a player picking the Beavers over the Ducks. That's how it will be cast in some households, but not in Tyner's. This decision is more about Tyner deciding he was not going to sit around the rest of his life mired in regret.

Tyner, who totaled 1,284 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns in two seasons at Oregon, tweeted on Thursday: "'What if,' I hate that thought."

As a columnist, I nearly fell out of my chair.

I knew Tyner was working out. I was aware he explored the NCAA rules, locating a provision on his own that allows an underclassmen who hasn't participated in two full sports seasons to transfer and be eligible immediately. But what I didn't know was whether Tyner would actually do it, and that tweet was his first public hint.

"This says nothing against Oregon. This is a regret thing. He just wants to get back to football," his father, John Tyner, said.

Oregon State has Ryan Nall in the backfield. Nall and Tyner could be a next-level combination for Andersen's offense. It would solve an immediate need -- a 4.28-second, 40-yard burner to complement Nall's bruising running style.

"Hopefully, I can run that again," Tyner said of the 40-yard time.

Where does he fit at OSU next season? How much does the running back have left? Those are questions now for Tyner and the Beavers coaching staff. He isn't worried about whether or not Oregon State has a scholarship for him. He's willing to walk-on, but I doubt it will come to that.

"Man, I'm so far gone from football right now," Tyner told me last summer.

"I can't wait to play again," he said last week.

Tyner has been granted his release by the University of Oregon. That's the big news today. Three more weeks of school. One month left on the apartment lease in Eugene. Then, he'll transfer to Oregon State and try to make a comeback. We've seen nothing like this in our state's college football history. It's been said people go to college to figure out who they are. We're watching Tyner do just that, possibly in uniform at both Oregon and Oregon State.

It's a fascinating study.

On Saturday morning, I worked to confirm the details of Tyner's plans. For hours, I couldn't reach him. Nobody could. Turns out he was volunteering for his old high school, working in Aloha with elementary-school kids at a 5-kilometer fun run.

"Just helping a bunch of kids and having fun," Tyner said.

He confirmed the comeback, and that Oregon State is the only program he's interested in playing for.

"Life starts hitting you once you're about to graduate," he said. "I just wasn't satisfied. I have to do this."

-- @JohnCanzanoBFT