Marquill Osborne ready to get down to business for Vols

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KNOXVILLE - Marquill Osborne took a businesslike approach to his recruitment.

Thus it's no surprise the four-star cornerback out of North Carolina intends to start his Tennessee career in similar fashion.

Osborne committed to the Volunteers midway through his junior season in September 2014, and it's been a long countdown to this weekend, when he moved to Knoxville to start his career as one of the four early enrollees in Tennessee's 2016 recruiting class.

"I'm just focusing on one day at time," he said after an Under Armour All-American Game practice in Orlando late last month. "That's what I've been doing since I started this process, just focusing on one thing at a time. I'm just taking everything step by step.

"I'm excited. I am so excited to start that next chapter, and I'm glad it's at Tennessee. It's exciting."

The 5-foot-11, 183-pound Osborne joined the three junior college transfers - wide receiver Jeff George, defensive tackle Alexis Johnson and cornerback D.J. Henderson - Tennessee signed last month in moving to campus this past weekend with spring-semester classes starting Wednesday.

Tennessee had 24 early enrollees in its past two classes but could add only four players this January.

Osborne is glad to be a part of that quartet.

"Enrolling early is definitely a great option to do," he said. "I was told that when I started my recruiting process. I always wanted to graduate early and get in there and get ahead of everybody else. Definitely the key is to get ahead."

Osborne was a cornerback, receiver and returner at William Amos Hough High School outside of Charlotte, and he was the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County defensive player of the year after recording 34 tackles with four interceptions - rarely did teams throw to his side of the field - this season while playing in a loaded region.

On offense he caught 43 passes for 580 yards and five touchdowns and rushed for 139 yards, and he returned two kickoffs for touchdowns.

That production prompted Osborne, the No. 21 cornerback in the country according to 247Sports and the No. 92 overall player according to Rivals.com, to receive a scholarship offer and take an official visit to Ohio State in October.

Though he committed early, other programs, such as LSU, Michigan, Florida and Clemson, continued to pursue Osborne.

"A lot of schools came after me after I committed," he said, "but I was a pretty solid commit. I didn't give too many schools too much interest."

The reasons for that, Osborne said, were because he wanted what he called a "low key" recruiting process and his relationship with Tennessee, particularly secondary coach Willie Martinez, was so strong.

"The coaches were a huge impact on why I made that decision," he said. "They treat me like I'm family. The atmosphere, the fans, school, education, the football - everything.

"(Martinez is) straight to business, and I'm ready for him to coach me."

While playing cornerback the past three years Osborne also focused on playing there in college, so he starts his Tennessee career more technically sound as a cornerback than many freshmen who have to learn the intricacies of the position.

Tennessee was thin at cornerback this season, particularly after Rashaan Gaulden went down for the season with a foot injury in August. For most of the season Emmanuel Moseley and Justin Martin platooned at the corner spot opposite Cameron Sutton. Malik Foreman and Micah Abernathy replaced Gaulden at the nickel spot.

Though more playing time would become available if Sutton declares for the NFL draft, Osborne hopes he stays.

"I kind of want him to stay, to be honest with you," he said. "It's just another guy to critique my craft after and follow in his footsteps a little. During my process, too, being a younger guy and having an older, more experienced guy like Cam would be great, but if he leaves I'll just do what I've got to do."

That surely means getting down to business right away.

"I definitely think they want me to come in and make a huge impact," Osborne said, "and I'm ready for that."

Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.

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