Junior defensive back Marquill Osborne announced a week ago that he planned to transfer off Tennessee’s football roster. Now, he’s decided where he wants to play next year.
Osborne announced on Twitter on Friday that he will be transferring to Charlotte to continue his collegiate football career. The Vols actually played the 49ers this past season, and Osborne himself is from Cornelius, North Carolina — which is less than half an hour from Charlotte.
Charlotte I’m coming home #704 let’s ball and take over this conference ?? Philippians 4:13 @Coach_heals https://t.co/lTRJmZtsSS
— Marquill Osborne (@gotfootball3) December 14, 2018
Osborne played for William Amos Hough School in Cornelius, North Carolina, so he’ll be returning home when he plays for the 49ers.
Charlotte just recently hired Austin Peay head football coach Will Healy to lead up their football program. Brad Lambert wasn’t retained as head coach after serving in that role for the last six seasons. The 49ers went 5-7 this year after an 1-11 campaign in 2017. Lambert was just 22-48 in six years as Charlotte’s head coach.
This year, Osborne made some big plays for the Vols despite only limited playing time. He blocked a punt, recovered it, and returned it for a touchdown against ETSU in Tennessee’s second game of the season. He intercepted two passes against Kentucky during Tennessee’s 24-7 win over the Wildcats, and he totaled a career-high four tackles the next week against Missouri.
The 5-foot-11, 190-pound defensive back never started a game for Tennessee in his three seasons with the Vols, and he played primarily on special teams. In 30 career appearances, Osborne totaled 19 tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack, two interceptions, four passes defended, a blocked punt, and a punt return for a touchdown.
Coming out of high school, Osborne was a consensus four-star recruit and was ranked inside the top-100 overall players by both ESPN and Rivals. But he rarely saw the field at Tennessee aside from special teams work.
