Michael Sam's abrupt departure from the Montreal Alouettes turned heads over the past week, and the team is still unsure if the 25-year-old will eventually return, as he was placed on the team's suspended list.

Sam, credited as the first openly gay player in professional football, signed a two-year contract with the Alouettes on May 22. Before the Alouettes' first exhibition game, Sam was granted permission to head home to Texas for "personal reasons."

Alouettes general manager Jim Popp was candid about Sam's decision.

"There's nothing to tell you. He wanted to go home, and that's what he did. I don't know why. When a guy wants to go home, they go home," Popp said to Herb Zurkowsky of the Montreal Gazette. "He had some personal things to take care of.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he returns. I'm surprised he left. I was very surprised. If he doesn't come back, I would think football's over for him. He's the one that has to face that. But I don't think he doesn't want to play football. That's why he came here."

During his collegiate career at Missouri, Sam captured SEC Defensive Player of the Year honors. He was selected in the seventh round of the 2014 NFL Draft by the St. Louis Rams, the first openly gay player to be chosen by a NFL club. However, it wasn't an ideal professional situation for the defensive end, as the Rams arguably boasted the NFL's deepest defensive line. Sam was one of the Rams' final cuts.

"It's a huge story because everybody keeps hounding and hounding and hounding. Michael Sam just wants to be a football player," Popp said. "I would think anybody that's 25 years old that has been going through it for a year and a half, it would have to affect him. I would think so. That's one reason he didn’t want to do interviews and just concentrate on football."