CLEMSON — Four is no longer the magic number when it comes to football eligibility, and soon, non-medical redshirts will be reduced to a museum piece from college sports past.
Since 2018, when the NCAA passed current regulations, players have been able to participate in up to four games in one season while maintaining a redshirt, or an extra year of eligibility, in the future.
This rule allows athletes some playing time while keeping full four seasons of eligibility, unlike the previous legislation, which prevented players from redshirting if they were on the field for even a single snap.
However, the 2018 edition of the redshirt rule started rusting a few years later as rules around name, image and likeness compensation and the transfer portal started to change.
With real money and transferring opportunities on the table, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said players began to self-redshirt in recent seasons, cutting through availability on the roster.
“It was a good thing that they came out and said you could play four games and play the postseason,” Swinney said Tuesday. “But then there were some unintended consequences, like in anything. ‘Oh man, I got beat out. I don’t like my role. I played as a freshman and I need to save that year. It’s another year to make some money.’ People are in your ear, and so now all of a sudden you got kids not playing.”
In addition to those concerns, the rule’s piercing strictness juxtaposed with exposed eligibility loopholes emerging across the country has left several players in uncertain situations.
It left wide receiver Tristan Smith crying on the phone with his mother last season, unsure if he could appear in a fifth game against North Carolina as uncertainty surrounded his junior college year.
“Mom, I’m going to redshirt,” Smith’s mother Ericia said, recalling her son’s midseason dilemma. “I’m not going, because if I don’t redshirt, I won’t have another year.”