FBS head coaches recommend major change to redshirt rule in college football
Published:
FBS head coaches voted unanimously this week to recommend that the redshirt rule in college football be expanded widely from 4 games to 9 games.
The vote was done by the coaches in college football’s top tier in the hopes of altering the eligibility rules for redshirt seasons going forward in the sport. If the FBS coaches get what they want from this, those eligibility rules for redshirt seasons would more than double from 4 games to 9.
The unanimous vote was made at this week’s annual AFCA convention in Irving, Texas. While the coaches’ vote is an important development in the potential change of the redshirt rule, it remains only a recommendation that will go forward to the Division I committees.
The current redshirt rule in college football says that a player can claim a redshirt season if he plays in 4 or fewer games during a particular season. That rule is held under the “five (years) to play four” directive. This week’s coaches’ vote could potentially start the process toward expanding that amount of games to 9 for a redshirt season, something today’s coaches who are dealing with the massive influx of transfer players would crave.
There remains no “redshirt” term in the NCAA dictionary, in exact terms. But that redshirt rule that’s been firm in college football is being challenged by this coaches’ vote.
The next step after this unanimous vote recommendation by coaches is for this issue to go before Division I committees, who will then determine if redshirt rule changes at the FBS level in college football are worth being made.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
