College Football 2018: 4-game redshirt rule likely to pass

A new proposed rule that would allow college football players to play up to four games and still redshirt is likely to pass, according to a recent FootballScoop report.

The report says that Todd Berry, the executive director of the American Football Coaches’ Association, has expressed confidence that the new rule will certainly become reality at the NCAA level eventually.

Berry said this vote has been unanimous across all levels two years in a row, which never happens. “This needs to pass and it needs to pass right now,” Berry said.

The report also included a poll from Mitch Sherman of ESPN which showed that administrators and student-athletes favor the rule change.

This rule change would allow coaches to expand their position battles well beyond training camp and into the season. This, of course, also means that coaches battling a lack of depth could avoid burning freshman redshirts.

This rule could have greatly benefited Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops on multiple occasions last year, like when Matt Panton was arrested and it appeared as though Grant McKinnis was going to be forced to burn his redshirt so that Panton could serve his suspension (McKinnis ended up not playing in that game, thus saving his redshirt). Another instance is when Jordan Jones got into several altercations during the Louisville game, but other injuries at the linebacker position forced Stoops to put him back in the game to avoid burning the redshirt of a freshman linebacker.

You can read Football Scoop’s report here, which talks about Berry’s confidence in the rule and delivers quotes from others around NCAA football.