NCAA Football: Fans react to new redshirt rule for 2018
By Kelvin Hunt
NCAA football finally gets it right and gives freshmen the opportunity to gain valuable experience without losing a redshirt season.
The first thing I thought of when I read NCAA football passed their new redshirt rule was how many FSU true freshmen could have benefited last season.
Players can practice/scrimmage and simulate games all they want but nothing can supplant live game action.
Now, true freshmen can play in up to four games, gaining valuable experience without losing a full year of eligibility.
Athletic.com’s Stewart Mandel tweeted the news yesterday.
Big news folks: The redshirt rule finally passed. College football players can now play up to four games without burning their redshirt. https://t.co/mamrN2h5pm
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) June 13, 2018
Just think, players like Khalan Laborn, Tamorrion Terry, Alexander Marshall, Zaquandre White and Bailey Hockman could have benefited from the rule in 2017.
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A season that was lost halfway through the season, it could have been a prime opportunity for them to gain experience which could have paid dividends in 2018.
Yet, those players come into 2018 with basically practice reps.
Fan Reaction
Will be interesting to see some teams who are floundering with a Senior QB turn to the redshirt freshman for the last 4 games.
— William Coonce (@William_Coonce) June 13, 2018
Bailey Hockman could have played in the final four games last season(if he was healthy enough) and given FSU three quarterbacks with real game time experience on the roster in 2018.
So players now get 4.3 years of on-field eligibility essentially
— Eric Haechrel (@EricHaechrel) June 13, 2018
Good rule for the student athlete the powerful programs will however get even stronger
— Scott Parfrey (@scottp9563) June 13, 2018
Wow, I can guarantee you that every coach in the country has already come up with 3 or 4 ways to use this rule to his advantage...and the player's disadvantage. This may be the worst rule ever
— Todd Croy (@tcgobucks) June 13, 2018
The first part of this is correct, but stating it’s the worst rule ever is ridiculous.
Why wouldn’t you redshirt every player eligible?! Who cares if they burn it while making an impact and it could create flexibility for the team if a player doesn’t immediately work out
— Tony Patterson (@tony__patterson) June 13, 2018
This makes no sense as coaches have a general idea of who’s going to be a contributor once fall camp concludes.
The new redshirt rule allows those players who may not have enrolled early a chance to show what they can do as they get practices under their belt throughout the season.
Thoughts
I think it’s the right move by the NCAA. Why would it be fair for a player to lose an entire year(12 games) of eligibility if he doesn’t play in even half the games?
Here’s another way to look at how this could help programs. Let’s use Tamorrion Terry as an example who redshirted last season with FSU football.
Let’s say Tamorrion Terry plays the next two years at FSU and declares for the NFL Draft. He would have been at FSU for three years, but only played two years.
Let’s say under the new redshirt rule he plays in the final four games as a true freshman. Not only it is possible he could help FSU win a game or two, but he’d also get experience that would likely be impactful his sophomore season.
Whereas now, he’s coming into the 2018 season with no real game experience. It could take him four or five games to feel comfortable in the offense which is almost half the season.
So essentially, you would have gotten about 18 or 19 games out of him in three seasons.
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That’s why the new redshirt rule can help both the player and football programs at the same time.