What is a red shirt freshman in football?

Question

What is a red shirt freshman in football?

Answer 1

a red shirt is when a coach makes it so a player will not play their freshman year so they can gain another year of eligibility after they graduate

Answer 2

in college, you have 4 years of eligibility.  this means that even if you're at school for 5 or 6 years, you can only play that one sport for 4 years.  so many programs will "redshirt" freshmen, especially at positions where they have a lot of depth.

this way the young player can develop more physically and develop more as a player, without using a year of his eligibility.  therefore, when they start playing during their second year of college, they're still on their first year of eligibility, thus a "redshirt freshman".  this means that even though they might be a 5th year senior academically, they can still play that last year.

Answer 3

most of the time "redshirt freshman" is not  a freshman at all, but in his first year of academic eligibility so in essence it is like he is a college freshman because it is his first year playing football at the college level...