re: Dandy Don says La'El Collins to redshirt

quote:

---

Yes he can....done all the time...all the sudden he gets an ankle injury and they have to "medically" redshirt him...I think you can do that up to the 2nd game..

---

Let's get a couple things straight.

Technically, "redshirt" is a slang term. It doesn't exist in any NCAA rulebook. Before you flame on this, look it up.

A player on a NCAA team has 4 seasons of eligibility which must be used within 5 consecutive years or 10 consecutive semesters. People often refer to this as "5 years to play 4"

Once you enter the playing field (court, etc.) you automatically use one year of eligibility. It's not one play, not one second, it's entering the game in an NCAA contest. So, when a coach doesn't put a player in for a whole year, they haven't used their eligibility yet, oftentimes as a freshman, so this means they have 4 seasons left and 4 years on the clock to do it (or 8 semesters).

As far as "medical redshirts" (again doesn't exist, it's a slang term). A school can petition the NCAA to restore a year of eligibility or grant an extra year of eligibility to a player, decided on a case-by-case basis. Typically these are only granted in serious situations such as season-ending injuries.

Thus, common myths debunked:
1. A player does not "declare" a redshirt or anything of the sort. They simply don't play and don't use up eligibility
2. A Coach/AD/School does not "medically redshirt" people - only the NCAA can restore or grant extended eligibility.
3. There is no "grace period" for "redshirting", the first time you enter the game, you deduct a year of eligibility.

Hope this helps everyone's understanding


EDIT: See Suntiger's above post for further explanation of "Medical Redshirting"