Venric Mark transfers to West Texas A&M, per report

Former Northwestern running back Venric Mark has transferred to West Texas A&M, according to ESPN's Joe Schad, and he has already started practicing.

Northwestern RB Venric Mark said he’ll transfer to West Texas A&M. Has already practiced.

— Joe Schad (@schadjoe) August 23, 2014

The news comes after Mark transferred from the program earlier in training camp, likely due to his suspension from the football team. Mark was one course shy of graduating and claimed he will get his degree from Northwestern.

Statement from Venric. RT @PurpleBlaze_5: #Faith #KeepGrinding pic.twitter.com/MWSzbC4DxF

— InsideNU (@insidenu) August 20, 2014

West Texas A&M is a Division II school in the Lonestar Conference. Mark had originally said he wanted to transfer closer to home, and while Canyon, Texas — the home of West Texas A&M — is still far from Mark's hometown of Houston, his mom reportedly lives in Lubbock, which is much closer.

In order to play Division I — Texas Tech was reportedly a possibility — Mark would have had to have gotten a "run-off" waiver from the NCAA, since he's a 5th-year senior and won't have any eligibility after this season. But that seemed like a difficult proposition, considering that he could have technically stayed at NU if he wanted to. Star Oklahoma receiver Dorial Green-Beckham, who was looking for the same waiver after being kicked off the Mizzou football team, was denied it by the NCAA.