If the NCAA transfer portal existed 30 years ago, Tee Martin probably never would’ve won a national championship with the Tennessee Vols.

Martin led Tennessee to a national championship in 1998 in his first season as the program’s starting quarterback.

The Alabama native, however, thought he’d be the Vols’ starting quarterback a year sooner.

Martin signed with Tennessee with the expectation that he’d sit behind Peyton Manning in 1996 before taking over as the starting quarterback in 1997.

But those plans changed when Manning passed up being the top pick in the 1997 NFL Draft and returned for his senior season.

Tee Martin was ready to leave when he first heard Peyton Manning was staying

Martin recently joined the Hear Me Out Podcast with Elzy and Butts and he detailed his initial emotions when he found out Manning was staying and what came next.

“It was one of my first lessons early in my college career,” said Martin. “Because in recruiting, I was told that there’s no way [Peyton] is coming back for his senior season. He’s one of the hottest quarterbacks in the country — he’ll be a first-round pick and all of this stuff.

“They had that big press conference at Thompson-Boling Arena. I was in the lobby of Gibbs watching on that little TV down there, and I’m just kind of like, hold on, it’s like a parade — everybody is at this thing. There’s no way everyone’s gonna show up if he’s gonna leave. … There’s no way he’s gonna stand in front of all these people and say, ‘I’m leaving.’ And so I had already started thinking. I had a bus ticket at the Greyhound bus station in downtown Knoxville. I had called a lot of my family and told them I was coming back — but not my mom, because she didn’t want me to come home and not stay at Tennessee.

“I grabbed a couple of little bags, and I was downtown at the Greyhound station. And Coach Pat Washington, who recruited me, got a hold of me. I don’t know how he found out I was there, but he found out and came and talked to me. And a couple of my teammates came over to the dorm and talked to me, and I ended up staying. But that was a rough year because I wanted to play. I felt like I was ready to play. And it was nothing against Peyton coming back. He was great for us the following year. But I was being selfish in the moment where I thought I was ready to play. I thought it was my time and I had to wait a little longer.”

That’s got to be a tough spot for a young player — when you think your time has come, and then you find out you’ve got to wait another year.

But ultimately, it worked out great for Martin as he guided the Volunteers to a national championship when he finally got his opportunity.

There’s a great lesson there for college football players today — staying patient can pay off in a big way — but because of NIL and the transfer portal, there probably aren’t many who will choose to follow Martin’s path.