When Marquill Osborne decided to leave Tennessee in December and transfer to Charlotte, Vols coach Jeremy Pruitt took action.

Pruitt wrote a letter to the NCAA to aid Osborne’s case for immediate eligibility. Whether it had any influence or not, Pruitt does not know. He just knows the effort made to secure a waiver for his former cornerback.

Meanwhile, Tennessee continues to wait on confirmation or denial of a waiver for defensive lineman Aubrey Solomon with a week left before its season-opener against Georgia State. Solomon transferred to Tennessee from Michigan in December.

“I don’t know exactly what the previous institution has done,” Pruitt said. “I know what we have done. I know what we have done for young men who have left our program. I’m not sure that is the same across the country. I don’t know. I can’t say one way or the other.

“I’m pretty sure Marquill Osborne is eligible at Charlotte, right? He just wanted an opportunity to play. That was it. Had no issues here. Did everything I asked him to do while he was here. I wrote a thing up and suggested he was allowed to play.”

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Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh has been criticized lately for the way the Wolverines handle transfers after Cincinnati's James Hudson and Georgia Tech's Myles Sims were denied waivers.

Pruitt did not name Harbaugh or Michigan in his comments regarding Solomon.

“I don’t know everybody that has filed a waiver and asked for immediate eligibility,” Pruitt said. “If you do that, there is a reason why. But (Aubrey) just needs to focus on the things he can control. Right now that is him and that is what he is trying to do.”

The cases of Hudson and Sims — both Michigan departures — brought backlash for Harbaugh and Michigan.

Hudson said he left Michigan for mental health reasons, but never spoke up about them at Michigan and that led to waiver denial. The aftermath resulted in a back-and-forth between Harbaugh and Bearcats coach Luke Fickell, with Fickell claiming to The Athletic that Michigan didn’t back the waiver.

Sims’ mother, Katrina, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday that Michigan “included just a few words outside of what we said to mislead the NCAA in their decision-making. Whether that weight in heavily or not on the documentation we provided, we take issue with that.”

Harbaugh stated previously he has no input on waiver requests and has publicly vouched for a one-time transfer waiver for all student-athletes.

Undergraduate transfers must sit out one season, unless the NCAA approves a waiver granting immediate eligibility. The NCAA approves waivers if an athlete can show documented circumstances beyond the athlete’s control that directly affects the athlete’s health, safety or well-being.

Pruitt said Friday that he is an advocate for the transfer portal. He doesn’t necessarily want kids to transfer if the going gets tough. But with legitimate reasons for leaving or the pursuit of a better opportunity, Pruitt thinks it is right.

“Sometimes guys are looking for better opportunities,” Pruitt said. “Sometimes it’s just not a right fit. And hey, sometimes maybe they might have messed it up. Every scenario is probably a little bit different. But with this, it’s put on the NCAA to kind of filter through all of it and figure out, ok, what’s the justification for this guy to be eligible as opposed to the other guy.”

Pruitt then indicated he has written letters of support to the NCAA for “a couple guys” that left UT. He is pretty sure those players, including Osborne, are eligible at their new school.

“I don’t know if that has anything to do with it, as far as when they decide who is going to be eligible or who is not,” Pruitt said. “I definitely know that has happened in the past for us.”

Pruitt noted every transfer situation is different and there are a lot of transfers in college football — especially in the era of the transfer portal. He said it would be challenging to put a hard, fast rule in place regarding all transfers and believes each requires a degree of investigating.

Solomon, the nation’s No. 2 defensive tackle prospect and No. 23 overall prospect in the 2017 247Sports Composite, left Michigan after two seasons. The Leesburg (Ga.) Lee County product had meniscus surgery early last season.

He played in five games and had six tackles a season after playing in all 13 and recording 18 tackles as a freshman in 2017.

Pruitt has not said what Solomon’s waiver case entailed and Solomon has not been made available to reporters during the preseason.

“Sometimes, I don’t think you can do it by writing things down,” Pruitt said. “Sometimes you need to possibly go to the place, talk to the kids, talk to people there, to get an idea. I don’t know. There’s a process.

“There’s nothing we can do about it but support our student-athletes and that’s what we'll do."

Follow the Knoxville News Sentinel's Mike Wilson on Twitter @ByMikeWilson.