Converted Team Project Loses Link to Merged Clips...solutions?

Problem in a nutshell.  I'm handling a recut of a feature film, which was cut in Premiere.  I have no clue what they did as far as dailies ingestion.  I've been trying all week to get Team Projects to work with the project provided but have been constantly hitting a roadblock of offline media.

I've done a myriad of things:

• Cleared cache

• Unlinked the entire project in the single user version, converted into the team project, relinking the media in team project

• Created a new team project, then using the Media Browser, importing the single user master project

Everything I do gets the media online in the team project, however as soon as I quit Premiere and relaunch, all of the merged clips used in the project go offline.  If I manually relink the clips, and I quit Premiere yet again, when I open the team project, the clips are once again offline.

I have even made sure the Tape Name metadata in the single user project's merged clips are present.  Another thing to note is when I go to relink the newly offline team project's merged clips, tape name and previous directory have been wiped.  However oddly enough the sound roll tape name of one of the two clips of media is present.

And ideas or troubleshooting tips would be greatly appreciated.  I've been on two calls with Adobe tech support with no solution.  I deeply want Team Projects to work, it's such a great addition especially working remotely with an assistant.  Thanks in advance.

Premiere version 12.1.1

OSX El Capitan 10.12.6

Media on External Drive connected via USB3.0