The advent of the transfer portal epitomizes the seismic shift in college football dynamics. The portal is as polarizing as any ancillary tentacle in the sport. It has its supporters, and it has its cynics. The recent ordeal around Nico Iamaleava has fanned the flames of that cynicism. There’s some overlapping between these factions as well. People who don’t quite endorse its introduction but understand it has a place in the game. At the very least, the portal helps facilitate do-overs for players who need a change in scenery to thrive. This can be for both football-related and personal reasons. In an exclusive EssentiallySports interview, Oklahoma transfer tight end Davon Mitchell revealed to us the reason he’s bidding adieu to Norman for pastures new after merely one season. The reason is more profound than you thought, Sooner Nation. 

Davon Mitchell was the cat’s meow in high school. A microcosm of his eminence is the fact he was rated the No. 1 TE in the nation. Mitchell went to Los Alamitos in California, and his 5-star status fit right in with the hotels in downtown LA. After his sophomore year in HS, Mitchell reclassified from the class of ‘25 to ‘24. He was brought down a notch to a 4-star, but that didn’t deter bluebloods Oklahoma from fending off strong competition and acquiring him. Being relatively younger than the average collegiate freshman post-reclassification, Davon Mitchell redshirted. He’s traversing the transfer portal after spring camp, meaning he never suited up for OU in a competitive game. Mitchell’s departure came as a surprise to Oklahoma and the wider football sphere alike. It sparked discourse about why. Courtesy of Davion Michell himself via an exclusive EssentiallySports scoop, it’s now apparent.

We asked Davion Mitchell pretty straightforwardly why he entered the transfer portal, and he obliged with a blunt, emotionally charged response. “Honestly, there [were] a lot of factors that played a part in me leaving,” he said. “I had a hard time transitioning. On top of that, I was going through a rough time. I wasn’t right mentally, causing me to miss some workouts and give me setbacks. [Also,] I’ve been taking care of my 13-year-old brother for a little minute now.” There’s a lot to take in here. Initially, a vocal minority of Oklahoma fans voiced their frustration and berated Davion Mitchell for what they deemed was him leaving them hanging to dry. However, this revelation should quell that commentary. It’s not always as cut and dry as it seems. 

Alas, we at EssentiallySports refrained from probing into the details of Mitchell’s personal struggles. However, OU themselves didn’t help their cause by keeping hold of a talent like Davion Mitchell. Mitchell’s arrival coincided with the Sooners’ first season in the SEC after realignment. Safe to say it didn’t go too well. Some of the sheen wore off this glorious program after a sub-.500 years that culminated in a loss to a service academy in the Bowl game. The down year has inadvertently caused players to perceive them in a different light, lowering them in their estimates. 

A roster and staff upheaval is potentially baked into Davon Mitchell’s premature exit

Whoever followed on from Lincoln Riley in Norman was always drinking from a poisoned chalice. The roster he left behind for his successor after jumping ship to USC wasn’t in great shape to begin with. The overhaul required within the program was massive. Three years into the Brent Venables era as head coach, aftershocks from Coach Riley’s exit are still reverberating across Norman. The problem for OU is that these shocks aren’t quite dissipating- in fact, they are tearing up the foundation. The house that Bob Stoops built and Lincoln Riley supervised is standing rather precariously under the custodianship of Coach Venables.

Davon Mitchell is just one of over 30 players to leave Oklahoma through the transfer portal this offseason. Although they’ve offset their losses with the likes of new QB1 John Mateer and others, there’s still an air of uncertainty about the direction of the program. They’ve also switched their offensive coordinator between when Mitchell enrolled and now. New OC Ben Arbuckle is viewed as an upgrade, but you don’t know where and how Mitchell fits within his plans.

Davon Mitchell’s primary reasons for leaving Oklahoma aren’t football-related. However, they may have factored in. But for a player who went to high school on the West Coast, “transitioning” to a college town like Norman really can be difficult. As for the other facets at play that he brought up in his exclusive EssentiallySports interview, they demand some privacy. We here at ES certainly hope Mitchell can rise through adversity and blossom into the player he’s capable of becoming. As for his next landing spot, he’s been linked to Deion Sanders’ Colorado since entering the portal. But it’s faint conjecture at this stage.