Inside the Day 1 chaos of being a coveted player in college football’s transfer portal

Mom was nervous.

Troy Everett was entering the NCAA transfer portal on Saturday morning. He and his family talked through all the pros and cons and felt it was the right decision. But he didn’t have a plan for where he hoped to go. He didn’t know how long it would take to find a home. His mother, Stephanie, didn’t love all the uncertainty.

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What if Troy had to move across the country? Or what if he didn’t get any offers?

“You know how the moms are,” Troy said. “She was freaking out.”

He hit send on his Twitter post at 10:15 a.m. from his parents’ home in Roanoke, Va. His name officially appeared in the portal at 11:37 a.m. Almost instantly, his phone rang. After wrapping up his first call, he went to find her.

“I popped my head in and told her, ‘Mom, you can take a deep breath now. Virginia Tech just offered,’” Everett said. “She started tearing up. She was a wreck yesterday. I love her, but whew!”

That moment alone, that sigh of relief followed by a sense of excitement, is the feeling everyone’s chasing in the portal. Everett, an offensive lineman at Appalachian State who is wrapping up his second year in college, hoped he’d receive good news when he entered on the first day of the spring transfer window. He hoped schools like Virginia Tech that recruited him in high school would reenter the picture. But you can never really know what to expect.

I would like to thank App State, coach Clark and the rest of the coaching staff for the opportunity to play at this level. I have enjoyed my time at App State and the experience I have gained. With that being said, I am entering the transfer portal with 3 years of eligibility.

— Troy Everett (@troyeverett11) April 15, 2023

As Everett spoke with the Hokies’ coaching staff, the incoming calls and text messages and DMs became relentless, starting with coaches at Liberty, Louisville and Maryland trying to get him on the phone and offer as fast as they could. By the end of the day, Everett held eight offers — Illinois, James Madison, Liberty, Louisville, Maryland, Missouri, Oklahoma and Virginia Tech — and was chatting with Sooners coach Brent Venables via FaceTime.

“My phone died three times yesterday,” Everett recalled on Sunday morning. “It was absolutely insane, I’ll put it like that. As soon as I got approval that I was in the portal, it was like non-stop. It just kept going.”

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What is it like to be a wanted man in the transfer portal? The 6-foot-3, 294-pound lineman isn’t one of the most experienced players on the market. Everett started App State’s first six games at center last season and earned Freshman All-America recognition from The Athletic. But he also lost his starting job and moved to another position this spring.

Still, the redshirt freshman put enough on tape to impress. He has three more years of eligibility. And he chose to transfer in the spring, when everyone could use another lineman, even the schools that already have their center. He debuted at No. 12 in The Athletic’s best available transfer rankings on Saturday. For starter-caliber big fellas, the portal can be a wonderful place to visit — and also an exhausting one. Three hours in, around 2:30 p.m., Everett realized he’d been stuck on the phone so long that he hadn’t eaten all day.

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Why leave App State? He knew coaches would ask. Everett says he’s grateful for his two years in the program and his coaches, and he’s trying to leave on good terms. But he felt it was time to find a fresh start and a better opportunity to get to the next level.

The three-star signee redshirted in 2021 and was mentored by All-Sun Belt center Baer Hunter, a sixth-year senior. He earned the starting center job and laughs as he recalls one of the craziest three-game stretches a first-time starter could ever experience: a 63-61 shootout loss to Drake Maye and North Carolina in the opener, then an incredible 17-14 road win at No. 6 Texas A&M, followed by a 32-28 stunner against Troy won on a last-second Hail Mary with “College GameDay” in town. His redshirt freshman season was off to a pretty darn good start.

Six games in, after a loss to Texas State and an idle week, App State’s staff reshuffled the starting lineup and moved Isaiah Helms to center and transfer Bucky Williams to right guard. “They went with an older lineup which, you know, it is what it is,” Everett said. He only played two snaps in their next game and 52 over the last five. That was tough, no question, but he told himself to just work harder. This spring, he tried playing left guard and started thinking about his future. He didn’t make up his mind until Friday. He called his coach at Lord Botetourt High School, Jamie Harless, who offered to help make some calls on his behalf.

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“I was kinda going into it like this is a big deal, you don’t know what you’re gonna get, you’ve got to prepare like this could be a long process or a quick one,” Everett said. “We really didn’t have a set list of schools. We just wondered: Will I get an opportunity somewhere or not?”

And now, suddenly, Oklahoma wanted to talk. Offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh started following Everett on Twitter and reached out, then Venables started texting with him and asked if they could FaceTime. He offered after a half-hour chat. The Sooners don’t need a center, Everett was told, but they could see him playing guard this season and potentially sliding over later. And they want him to attend their spring game this Saturday.

Oklahoma offered! @CoachHarless55

— Troy Everett (@troyeverett11) April 15, 2023

On that dizzying day, it felt like speed dating. Everett was trying to ask the right questions, offer the right answers and forge genuine connections with these coaches, while also attempting to respond to all the messages he’s getting throughout each call and keep his constantly buzzing iPhone alive. But it’s not a game to him. The run of incoming offers was fun, but throughout these talks, Everett needs to figure out who’s being honest and what he’s honestly seeking. He said the process made him feel like a “newbie” right away who had no clue what he was doing.

Missouri offered right after Oklahoma. Coach Eli Drinkwitz told him his staff just watched his tape, and he wondered: How do they do that? Before he entered the portal, Everett wondered whether he needed to cut up a video of his best game tape. He learned quickly there was no need. Coaches can easily queue up all of his film on PFF Ultimate. For a younger player like Everett, it’s certainly validating when these Power 5 coaches only need to watch a few plays to know they’d take him.

“I mean, I’ve got confidence in myself,” Everett said, “but yesterday was just something I wasn’t even thinking.”

Now he needs to start taking visits. Three schools offered to fly him out as soon as Wednesday. Everett isn’t ready to book trips just yet. He wants to talk with his professors on Monday and Tuesday and get their approval, knowing he’s going to miss classes. “These coaches probably think I’m a big nerd,” he joked. But he’s eager to hit the road. Everett didn’t experience a true recruiting process in 2020 during the pandemic and only got to visit App State once before he enrolled. He’s still glad he went there and always will be. But he’s looking forward to finding out where he belongs.

The Everetts went to dinner with his grandparents to celebrate at The Great 611 Steak Company. Troy treated himself to a 23-ounce steak for two. He had to step away from the table four times to answer more calls.

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“It took me a while to eat it because I had to keep getting up,” he said. “But I put the work on it. We’re all good, though.”

After chatting with Illinois coach Bret Bielema and taking one more call with James Madison, he remembers telling his parents around 10 p.m. that he already felt like he’d been in the portal for three weeks. And then, at some point soon after that, he passed out on the couch. Maybe at 11:30 or midnight, it’s hard to say. He didn’t realize it until he woke up at 3 a.m.

As he recounted one of the wildest days of his life the next morning over breakfast, before another long day of calls and a three-hour drive back to Boone, N.C., Everett still didn’t have a good sense of where he’ll eventually go. But he knew what came next.

“I’m about to go fix me a double cup of coffee to start my day,” he said.

(Photo: Reinhold Matay / USA Today)