In college football, what does the term "red shirt", mean?

Answer 1

In college you have five years to get four years of eligibility in. Therefore you have one year to "redshirt" or be ineligible to play that year. It is usually the freshman or sophomore year.

Also if someone is injured very early in the season they can apply for and receive a "medical redshirt" which gives them another year to play.

Answer 2

A "red shirt" year is a year the player receives little or no playing time in order to gain another year of eligibility. Each player has 4 years to play football. if a player red shirts a year, the person will go to school for 5 years and play football for four of them.

Ex: The term "red shirt freshman" is a player who is in their sophomore year but playing their first year as an eligible player.

In addition, there are two types of red shirting available to players. The above type is the type you will see most often and is used in instances where a player may be an incoming freshman quarterback behind a powerful sophomore quarterback. Red shirting one year will make the player a "freshman" as far as eligibility is concerned the next year when the starting quarterback becomes a sophomore. This way, when the starting quarterback graduates, the red shirt player gets more playing time. John Brantley, from Florida, used his red shirt year this year behind sophomore quarterback Tim Tebow. Really, he is only a year younger than Tebow, but if Tebow leaves after his senior year, Brantley will be a "junior" eligibility-wise, not a senior.

The second red shirt status, a medical red shirt, is used when a player is injured early in the season and has to sit out the rest of the season. In 2005, Andre Caldwell from Florida broke his leg on a kickoff return against Tennessee (the 3rd game of the season) and used his medical red shirt status for the rest of the season, so that he didn't lose a year of eligibility. This red shirt status can't just be used, it has to be granted by the NCAA.

Each player can only use one red shirt year, regardless of what kind of red shirt it is. And no, they do not have to wear a red shirt.

Answer 3

a "red shirt season" is a one season exemption, usually given due to injury... that doesn't count against a college players four years of eligibility. "red shirt" status is given early in the season.

so a "red shirt" freshman is academically a sophomore, but playing his first year of college ball.

after the sophomore year, the term redshirt is rarely used.

Answer 4

If a good player is injured or is not doing well in school, the team can elect to "redshirt" him which means he plays and attends the college for a fifth year. In other words, one year doesn't count on his eligibility.

Answer 5

Redshirt is a term used in American college athletics. Typically, four years of academic classes are required to obtain a bachelor's degree at an American college or university. A student's sport eligibility is based on this timetable. Therefore, a student-athlete may only represent a school in any given sport for a total of four seasons. However, a student-athlete may opt to redshirt for one year. Redshirting allows the student-athlete to spread those four years of eligibility over five years. In a redshirt year, a student-athlete may attend classes at the college/university and practice with an athletic team, however he or she may not appear in games. Using this mechanism, a student-athlete has up to five academic years to use the four years of eligibility, thus creating the phenomenon of "Fifth Year Seniors".

The term is often used as a verb: a coach may choose to redshirt a player.

The term has adopted a second meaning in elementary education, where it refers to the practice of delaying a child's entrance into kindergarten by a year to give the child an opportunity for further mental, physical, or socioemotional growth.
There are many reasons a student-athlete may redshirt. A student-athlete may redshirt to gain a year of practice with the team prior to participating in competition. In football, a student-athlete may redshirt to add size prior to participating since football tends to favor larger players. Since the college years coincide with the typical completion of physical maturity, using a year of eligibility in the fifth college year is generally more beneficial to the team and to the student-athlete's potential professional prospects than it is to use the same year of eligibility in the first college year. Players, especially in football, may redshirt to learn the team's play book since college teams run more complex and more plays generally than most high school teams. In other cases, a player may be granted a redshirt if he or she has participated in less than 10% of the season taking place in an academic year. This rule is most commonly exercised in the Football Championship Subdivision of football (formerly known as I-AA). Commonly, an athlete will redshirt the first year of college, if the athlete is redshirting at all.

An athlete may be asked to redshirt if he or she would have no opportunity to play as an academic freshman. This is a common occurrence in many sports where there is already an established starter or too much depth at the position in which the freshman in question is planning to play.

There is also a medical redshirt that may be obtained to replace a season lost to injury. A medical redshirt can be granted by the governing body for a season lost completely or almost completely to injury. A medical redshirt can allow a player to gain additional eligibility beyond the standard four academic calendar years.

The term redshirt freshman indicates an academic sophomore (second-year student) who is in the first season of athletic eligibility. A redshirt freshman is distinguished from a true freshman (first-year student) as one who has practiced with the team for the prior season. The term redshirt sophomore is also commonly used to indicate an academic junior (third-year student) who is in the second season of athletic eligibility. After the sophomore year the term redshirt is rarely used, instead the terms fourth year junior and fifth year senior are more common.

Athletes may also utilize a grayshirt year in which they attend school, but cannot enroll as a full-time student, and do not receive a scholarship for that year. This means that they are an unofficial member of the team and do not participate in practices, games, or receive financial assistance from their athletic department. Typically, grayshirts occur when a player is injured right before college and requires an entire year to recuperate. Rather than waste his or her redshirt, the player can attend school as a part-time regular student and then join the team later.

Answer 6

leef, it means they're sitting out a year. The red comes from the blood that would've been spilled had they not "red shirted."