The UK football team will be saying farewell to defensive back Tobias Gilliam this offseason after his decision to transfer to Arizona Western Community College.

The three star cornerback from Atlanta saw action in six games this past season (collecting three tackles) after spending the beginning of the season injured due to a stress fracture.

“I plan to play for Arizona Western Community College for a season to get recruited again and to hopefully become a national recruit again,” Gilliam said.

After gaining some brief experience last season, Gilliam projected to be a backup to UK’s experienced secondary. Gilliam totaled four tackles in UK’s Blue-White spring game recently, which was tied for the most out of all secondary players in the game

Aside from football, Kentucky started to not feel like much of a home anymore, according to Gilliam.

“More or less it wasn’t even football sometimes, I just wasn’t happy here, so I had to make a decision that would better me and my future, and I can’t look back, I just have to keep looking forward,” Gilliam said.

Having made such a big decision, Gilliam feels nervous about what lies ahead, but is confident that his strong support system will get him back to where he needs to be. Gilliam’s main goal is to keep his focus on why he came to college in the first place, which is to get his degree.

If the NFL doesn’t work out, Gilliam is currently studying journalism and has aspirations to become an ESPN broadcaster.

As Gilliam’s final semester at UK winds down, he sends his thanks to all of the staff at UK, professors, tutors and mentors who helped him succeed in his academics during his time here and inspired him to do better in school.

“The coaching staff at Kentucky taught me a lot that I am going to carry throughout my life, football-related and things outside of football, and just because I’ll be leaving it doesn’t mean that there will ever be any bad blood, I will always bleed blue,” Gilliam said.