Utah transfer lineman Koli Faaiu will visit Texas A&M, hopes to see Washington, Oklahoma

Utah transfer center Koli Faaiu is taking a visit to Texas A&M and has trips to visit Washington and Oklahoma set up, On3’s Pete Nakos confirmed. The visits were first reported by ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

Faaiu was mostly a reserve during his first two seasons at Utah before playing in 11 games in 2023. He started eight at center.

Faaiu is one of the better interior offensive linemen in the portal, and would likely compete for a starting spot wherever he lands.

Faaiu played high school football at North Creek (Wa.) High School, where he was a three-star prospect. He was the No. 954 overall recruit in the 2021 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. 

The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.

Background on the transfer portal

The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.

The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database and everything is off and running. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.

Once a player’s name shows up in the portal, other schools can contact the player. Players can change their minds at any point and withdraw from the portal. However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship no longer has to be honored. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay, the school is not obligated to provide a scholarship anymore.

The database is a normal database, sortable by a variety of topics, including (of course) sport and name. A player’s individual entry includes basic details such asynchronous contact info, whether the player was on scholarship and whether the player is transferring as a graduate student.

A player can ask that a “do not contact” tag be placed on the report. In those instances, the players don’t want to be contacted by schools unless they’ve initiated the communication.