Ad Disclosure
With 8 days until kickoff, Jeremy Pruitt frustrated with NCAA over Aubrey Solomon
By SDS Staff
Published:
Only eight days until Tennessee kicks off against Georgia State on August 31, and the Vols have yet to hear about whether defensive tackle transfer Aubrey Solomon will be eligible for 2019 or not.
Solomon announced his transfer from Michigan to Tennessee last December, and he’s been waiting to hear the NCAA’s ruling for eight months.
For the first time all year, Jeremy Pruitt expressed a little bit of frustration with the lack of a ruling by the NCAA on Friday evening.
“What I think is unfair is that every person that transfers, if they file a waiver — every player and circumstance is completely different,” Pruitt said when talking about Solomon. “There’s a lot of them out there. There’s a lot of people who have elected to transfer. I don’t think you can just put a rule down and say, ‘This is the rule,’ and it covers every circumstance, unless you do some actual investigating. … There’s a process. There’s nothing we can do about it except support our student-athletes, and that’s what we’ll do.”
If Solomon doesn’t receive a waiver from the NCAA, he’ll have to sit the 2019 season. It’s become somewhat a standard procedure for transfers to apply for a waiver, although they aren’t always granted.
Pruitt hasn’t said what Solomon’s waiver case entails, and Solomon hasn’t spoken with reporters since his transfer.
Tennessee’s head coach was asked how the lack of a decision by the NCAA has affected practice.
“Well, we’ve not changed how we practice. It’s interesting how this transfer portal stuff works. You know, I’m a guy who’s really been an advocate. I think that — not necessarily do I want kids to leave if things get tough. … Sometimes guys are looking for better opportunities. Sometimes it’s just not a right fit. And sometimes maybe they might have messed it up, right?
“But with this, it’s put on the NCAA to filter through all of it and figure out, ‘Okay, what’s the justification for this guy to be eligible as opposed to the other guy?’ We actually had a couple guys who left our program, and I actually wrote letters to the NCAA on why I thought why they should be eligible at the institutions they’re going to go to. And I’m pretty sure they’re all eligible. I don’t know if that has anything to do with it.”
So, how’s Solomon handling not knowing is fate yet? Pruitt explained.
“Well, I think it’s obvious that with every circumstance out there — I’ve not followed it as close as you guys have, but obviously if you do that (file a waiver), there’s a reason why. He just needs to focus on the things he can control. Right now, that’s him and that’s what he’s trying to do.”
You can watch Jeremy Pruitt’s press conference below, via Volquest’s YouTube Channel:
Saturday Down South reports and comments on the news around the Southeastern Conference as well as larger college football topics.
