Separating Redshirt Facts from Fallacies
The redshirt rule in college football is far simpler than many seem to realize.
A player gets four seasons of eligibility over a five-season period. Period.
A player plays his first season, and that leaves him with three seasons of eligibility over a four-year period.
The NCAA requires no commitment date. Play a player on the last play of a season and that counts as a season of participation. Coaches often go deep into a season still deliberating on whether to play a first-year freshman or preserve his season of eligibility. If you remember, Jordan Williams, in 2007, sat out the first six games of his first season before Coach Jim Grobe decided he needed another receiver enough to burn Williams’ shirt. But because Williams has played three seasons over three seasons, he could, if he wanted, redshirt this season and return in 2011. Nobody has mentioned the possibility. That’s just how the rule works.
That’s how De’Angelo Bryant was able to save his sophomore season after he got hurt in preseason camp. And that’s how Chris DeGeare was able to sit out his first senior season while academically ineligible and return to play last season. Both played their first season at Wake.
The confusion apparently comes from those who equate the redshirt rule with the medical hardship rule. They’re two different rules. A player can apply to regain eligibility for a certain season if he’s injured badly enough early that he basically loses that season. The NCAA makes that ruling, and as we were reminded in the Ben Mauk situation, it requires documentation.
This post was prompted by the questions of a member of our Peanut Gallery named ncbrian, who also wanted to know if Grobe has made any final decisions on which first-year freshmen will play this season. Even if he has, he could change his mind by Thursday’s opener against Presbyterian. But from talking with him after yesterday’s scrimmage, I got the sense that at least two of the freshmen cornerbacks are being counted on for this year, and right now both A.J. Marshall and Kevin Johnson appear ahead of Merrill “Bud” Noel. Tanner Price is running second-team quarterback, which I take to mean that he’s next up if Ted Stachitas doesn’t give Grobe the play he wants from a quarterback. Now if the Deacons go deeper into the season with Price having not played, the percentages and the considerations will change.
Daniel Vogelsang was in the rotation at defensive tackle, but he broke his hand earlier this week and may not be back for Presbyterian. We’ll have to see how quickly he comes back and how badly Coach Ray McCartney, who coaches the defensive tackles, feels he needs another body in the mix. And Grobe has been really excited about linebacker Zachary Allen, who like Vogelsang, arrived in January and thus had the benefit of spring practice. But Allen’s problem is not how he’s playing, but how the six or seven older and more experienced linebackers ahead of him on the depth chart are playing.
Before he injured his knee earlier this week, Dylan Heartsill was battling with redshirt freshman Devin Bolling for second-team tackle behind Doug Weaver. My guess is that if the line doesn’t experience serious problems and upheaval, Heartsill will redshirt.
Injuries affect depth charts, and there may be a hole open up that Grobe and his staff decide to fill with a freshman. Otherwise, I think the best bets to play this season are Marshall, Johnson, Price and Vogelsang.