Here's my take...take it or leave it...
1. I don't think this was an NIL decision at all. If it was, he wouldn't have left Tech to begin with.
2. He was way behind because of his injury and recovery time coming out of high school. So he missed spring ball last year (critical for a new player) and all of summer leading into fall camp. He was used to being the best player on the field, but missing all those months, probably for the first time in his life, not only was he not the best player on the field, he was down the depth chart. This had to impact his mental state as a brand new freshman 5 hours away from home trying to adjust to a level of football he's not experienced before.
3. So he was slow to pick up the playbook and get up to D-1 college football speed thanks to losing all those months. Production out of the gate wasn't there, and then he gets injured again, setting him back again.
4. Speculation is he let the hangers-on around him convince him he could do better elsewhere (including his roommate, who was a very subpar DB who ended up transferring out). Rumor is his mother wanted him to stay at Tech and work through these issues with Coach McGuire rather than listen to these other people convince him the problem wasn't him, the problem was Tech.
5. Gets to College Station, and realizes momma was right. No longer had that roommate with him convincing him that happiness was Lubbock, Texas in his rearview mirror. He probably realizes for the first time the problem wasn't Tech, and he probably had a good thing going back there.
6. However, bridges were burned. I would not think that there would be a welcoming him back with "open arms". If he returns to Tech, it will probably be conditional that he has to make certain changes and own up to a few things first. Not sure if his teammates are actually that sad he left or that happy for him to return (this is all my speculation based on things I've read....nothing verifiable at all).
I made a lot of bad decisions in my life, much older even than Micah's current age. Whether he ends up back at Tech, or at some other school, I just hope he can overcome this and make the most out of the next opportunity that awaits him.