Has time passed the redshirt by

In a March 11 blog entry, I talked about the value of redshirting a true freshman: http://napavince.blogspot.com/2009/03/redshirt-does-not-mean-red-flag.html

The current NCAA rules state that an eligible athlete has five years to complete four seasons. Therefore, student-athletes may practice for a team but not play in a game for one season, not counting against his or her four seasons of eligibility. This is known as a redshirt. Fans don’t see their contributions in that they do not happen on gameday but the redshirt season is a valuable year in a system in that it provides shelter against some of the harsh realities of jumping to a new level of football.You see, some highly-touted high school studs make their college choices in the recruiting process based on early playing time. Some coaches promise it or tell the youngster he has a fair chance to compete for playing time. Others will demand an automatic redshirt. Pelini might not redshirt 100 percent of his recruits as freshmen but it’s going to be rare when he does not.Bo Pelini redshirted 50 scholarship players (including walkons) last season – his first as Nebraska’s head coasch. The Huskers were already thin at linebacker entering 2008. So thin they converted running back Cody Glenn to linebacker. Glenn, who earned the starting weakside linebacker job, was suspended late in the season and starting linebacker Phillip Dillard was limited the last half of the season with an ankle injury. Pelini still resisted the temptation of burning redshirts on talented players like Sean Fisher, Will Compton and Alonzo Whaley.

However, I have also heard at times lately that in recent years more true freshman are ready to make an impact. That argument has some merit in part because at larger high schools, there are fewer multi-sport athletes. Therefore, if a youngster is laser-focused on football, he might spend huge amounts of money to go to football camps to get recognized by college scouts.
The assumption that you can get four years out of an athlete after he redshirts may no longer be a valid assumption. It also seems as though there are quite a few players who have done well playing in their freshman years.Granted, it has become more common for true freshman to make an impact but in general I’d still say that only about two out of every ten are ready to do so. If a year of potential eligibility can be saved by not playing, then sure - that makes sense to redshirt them but if the guy is ready to play, and is better than those ahead of him on the depth chart, is it still a good idea to not play him if he's not a starter? Absolutely.

Therefore, I think redshirting is a good thing, especially in rebuilding years. Few guys are ready to go right out of high school and even fewer wouldn't benefit from an extra year of coaching. One exception is in a year where the non-freshmen on the team put you in a position to challenge for the National Title. In that case, I say go balls to the wall let's play our best guys if we need them.The other exception is if you think the guy is going to the NFL early. Use him while you've got him.

One thing that is different between Nebraska and most of the top schools in college football: the others tend to recruit great athletes, physical specimens. Nebraska tends to recruit mostly good (and a few great) athletes. Nebraska's emphasis has always been on building their players that fit the program, not on starting with the great players. I like it that way, it's the Nebraska way. But it also requires the extra year to bulk up and learn the playbook.