Redshirt players

[Coug95man2]

There is a movement to allow Redshirt players to play up to 4 games WITHOUT losing their 5th year... this is in reaction to McCaffrey and others not playing in their bowl games. Well, if a star redshirt player can get on the field, it might give bowl games a bit more relevance? Thoughts?

 

[Flatlandcoug]

I like the idea. It removes most of the drama from medical redshirting as well.

 

[cr8zyncalif]

I could buy this subject to certain provisions. Academic progress could not be borderline; there would have to be a clear track to a degree (a notch better than the bare minimum for eligibility). I could see NOT applying this to first year kids who are redshirting their initial year on the team. I also favor sitting out an entire year if the original redshirt reason was a head injury, but in that case I would give a lot of consideration to a 6th year subject to the full MRI bit and some specific protocols.

 

[BiggsCoug]

There is a movement to allow Redshirt players to play up to 4 games WITHOUT losing their 5th year... this is in reaction to McCaffrey and others not playing in their bowl games. Well, if a star redshirt player can get on the field, it might give bowl games a bit more relevance? Thoughts?

If the kid is that big of a difference maker, why has he been on the bench for 12 games heading into the bowl game???

Redshirts should be done away with. You get 4 years. Make it happen, or don't.

 

[Flatlandcoug]

If the kid is that big of a difference maker, why has he been on the bench for 12 games heading into the bowl game???

Redshirts should be done away with. You get 4 years. Make it happen, or don't.

The rule is getting attention because of situations where a starter was injured 10 or 11 games into the season and the team was forced to burn a redshirt if they wanted to remain competitive. Bowl games are just a side issue to the discussion.

Dana Holgersen's argument was: “If you think the kid is ready to play, and he goes out there in September but he’s scared to death, goes out there and plays two series and s**** down his leg, now you’re stuck with him, and the kid’s screwed. He may not play the rest of the year and he’s burned that year.”

 

[95coug]

There is a movement to allow Redshirt players to play up to 4 games WITHOUT losing their 5th year... this is in reaction to McCaffrey and others not playing in their bowl games. Well, if a star redshirt player can get on the field, it might give bowl games a bit more relevance? Thoughts?

To remove the possibility of abuse by cherry picking, this needs to specify 4 consecutive games. Otherwise it enables the possibility of using a kid selective. For example, the year Marks sat, maybe we decide we could really use him against Oregon, USC, Stanford, and UW, so we throw him into those games for a little boost, but still count it as a redshirt.

OR - eliminate the redshirt concept completely. Every player has 5 years to play in 48 games. Conference championships and bowl games don't count toward the total.

 

[SaveFerris]

If the kid is that big of a difference maker, why has he been on the bench for 12 games heading into the bowl game???

Redshirts should be done away with. You get 4 years. Make it happen, or don't.

You make a good point but wouldn't it have been nice to get 4 games out of Lamont Thompson without losing his redshirt all those years ago?

Dana Holgersen's argument was: “If you think the kid is ready to play, and he goes out there in September but he’s scared to death, goes out there and plays two series and s**** down his leg, now you’re stuck with him, and the kid’s screwed. He may not play the rest of the year and he’s burned that year.”

I think Doba burned Ropati Pitoitua for a game or 2 in one of the injury plagued years. More recently seeing Riley Sorenson and Fred Mauigoa redshirts burned and not really play was frustrating. That's on the staff but this rule if manged correctly could really pay dividends for both the player and program.

One thing that could work against WSU is 'early playing time' but at least we are no longer in major rebuild mode.

 

[BiggsCoug]

You make a good point but wouldn't it have been nice to get 4 games out of Lamont Thompson without losing his redshirt all those years ago?
I think Doba burned Ropati Pitoitua for a game or 2 in one of the injury plagued years. More recently seeing Riley Sorenson and Fred Mauigoa redshirts burned and not really play was frustrating. That's on the staff but this rule if manged correctly could really pay dividends for both the player and program.

One thing that could work against WSU is 'early playing time' but at least we are no longer in major rebuild mode.

And programs stockpiling 4 and 5 star talent basically using this as a way of bringing kids up to the big leagues for specific match ups and then sending them back down to AAA ball...

I think it's just better to stick with playing or not. No grey area. Nothing is open for debate or interpretation.

 

[Flatlandcoug]

And programs stockpiling 4 and 5 star talent basically using this as a way of bringing kids up to the big leagues for specific match ups and then sending them back down to AAA ball...

I think it's just better to stick with playing or not. No grey area. Nothing is open for debate or interpretation.

I understand what you are saying but from where I sit, the rule change provides a lot more upside for a school like WSU than it does for a school like Alabama or USC. I looked at Alabama's official website and they had 29 guys on their entire roster that redshirted. We had 57. For Leach to be able to allow those 57 guys up to 4 extra games in their careers could have a huge potential upside for us. And Alabama isn't going to suddenly redshirt a bunch more guys because in their world, they are always recruiting that next top ranked class. They can't afford to redshirt too many guys because it might impact their ability to get a full class of the next round of studs.

FWIW, schools like Alabama would likely go the other way with the four games and send out their redshirted studs against the bad teams on the schedule to give them experience in games where the outcome is positive.

I do like the comment above that players are allowed to play in up to 48 regular season games in their careers.

 

[SaveFerris]

I understand what you are saying but from where I sit, the rule change provides a lot more upside for a school like WSU than it does for a school like Alabama or USC. I looked at Alabama's official website and they had 29 guys on their entire roster that redshirted. We had 57. For Leach to be able to allow those 57 guys up to 4 extra games in their careers could have a huge potential upside for us. And Alabama isn't going to suddenly redshirt a bunch more guys because in their world, they are always recruiting that next top ranked class. They can't afford to redshirt too many guys because it might impact their ability to get a full class of the next round of studs.

FWIW, schools like Alabama would likely go the other way with the four games and send out their redshirted studs against the bad teams on the schedule to give them experience in games where the outcome is positive.

I do like the comment above that players are allowed to play in up to 48 regular season games in their careers.

I think it's big for WSU because we are always playing the depth game compared to the Alabama's and SC's of the world. You could have put a plan in place for a Fred Mauigoa to get 4 games to prepare him to take over at center in 2017. If he ends up not being used then he still has 4 years left. If a Gabe Marks were to get hurt you could potentially use a couple of players if necessary and protect their redshirt year. I see a lot of potential upside for us if it's used properly and Leach would definitely use it to our benefit. I do agree with Bigg's as far as just going to 5 years of eligibility though.

Here's an article in the Spokesman with thoughts from Leach and Grinch. They also talk about hoping if the rule is implemented it would be retroactive. Would be great to get a year back for Mauigoa and Patmon.

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/may/13/how-wsu-football-coaches-would-make-use-of-redshir/