Navigating NCAA Eligibility: Understanding Redshirt, Medical Redshirt, and Medical Hardship Waivers

The world of NCAA eligibility can be complex, with terms like "redshirt," "medical redshirt," and "medical hardship waiver" often causing confusion. This article aims to clarify these terms and their implications for student-athletes.

Redshirt: A Strategic Pause

In college athletics in the United States, a redshirt is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the four years of academic classes typically required to earn a bachelor's degree at an American college or university. However, in a redshirt year, student athletes may attend classes at the college or university, practice with an athletic team, and "suit up" (wear a team uniform) for play - but they may compete in only a limited number of games. Using this mechanism, a student athlete (traditionally) has at most five academic years to use the four years of eligibility, thus becoming what is termed a fifth-year senior. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an additional year of eligibility was granted by the NCAA to student athletes who met certain criteria.

The origin of the term redshirt was likely from Warren Alfson of the University of Nebraska who, in 1937, asked to practice but not play and wore a Nebraska red shirt without a number. The term is used as a verb, noun, and noun adjunct.

A redshirt year is typically a strategic decision made in collaboration with the coach. It allows a student-athlete to:

Develop skills: Redshirting provides the opportunity, with tutoring, to take classes for an academic year and become accustomed to the academic and physical rigors of university athletics. They may also redshirt to undergo a year of practice with a team prior to participating in competition. In American college football, a student athlete may redshirt to work towards increasing physical size, strength, and stamina during their final phases of physical maturation.
Adjust to college: Transitioning from high school to college can be an adjustment, so it might be good for a freshman student-athlete to redshirt to minimize feeling overwhelmed.
Overcome depth chart challenges: Athletes may be asked to redshirt if they would have little or no opportunity to compete as an academic freshman, which is a common occurrence in team sports where there is already an established upperclassman and/or too much depth in skill or ability at particular position.

While the redshirt status may be conferred by a coach at the beginning of the year, it is not confirmed until the end of the season, and more specifically, it does not rule an athlete ineligible in advance to participate in the season.

Redshirt Freshman, Sophomore, and Senior

The term redshirt freshman indicates a student-athlete who is an academic sophomore (provided enough credits were earned during the athlete's true freshman year) whose participation in athletics as a true freshman did not exceed the limits that would require the eligibility clock to start.
The following year, the student-athlete is typically an academic junior and called a redshirt sophomore for athletics purposes, for using a second year of athletic eligibility.
A redshirt senior is a fifth-year undergraduate student using a fourth year of eligibility. Such a student-athlete may actually be participating in a fifth season, but the participation in one of those seasons was minimal and did not use a year of eligibility.

Fifth-Year Senior

A fifth-year senior is a student athlete who is a fifth-year undergraduate student who has five years of eligibility. Student-athletes who were matriculated while college athletics were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic were granted additional eligibility by the NCAA, even if their participation was not affected in a significant way.

True Freshman

A true freshman is a student-athlete who is in their first year as an undergraduate student.

Important Considerations for Redshirting

Eligibility Clock: Redshirting does not "pause" your eligibility clock. In NCAA Division I, athletes have five calendar years to compete in four seasons.
Scholarships: Scholarships are typically awarded on a one-year renewable basis.

Recent Changes to Redshirt Rules

Shortly after the start of the 2024 season, NCAA Division I (both FBS and FCS) adopted a change to redshirt rules. The four-game limit now applies only to regular-season games.

Medical Redshirt: Overcoming Injury

A medical redshirt is reserved for players who play a small amount of time early in a season and have a season ending injury. It is a special case involving the eligibility of an athlete who loses the majority of a season to injury. A hardship waiver may be granted to those athletes who sustain a major injury while appearing in less than 30% of competitions and have not participated after the midpoint of a season. This allows the athlete to regain a season of eligibility.

The process of obtaining a medical redshirt often involves submitting extensive medical documentation.

Read also: Crafting Your NCAA Profile

Medical Hardship Waiver: A Sixth Year of Eligibility

A medical hardship can be awarded if an athlete is forced to miss 2 seasons of competition, both because of serious injury. This allows an athlete to have a 6th year of eligibility. This is very rare. The only way to get 2 redshirts is to apply to the NCAA for a medical hardship. This is generally only awarded to athletes that have multiple season ending injuries. As a college baseball player I took a medical redshirt after tearing up my elbow in the 3rd game of a season. After setbacks in my recovery I was unable to return for the following season. I applied for and was awarded a medical hardship and was given a 6th year of eligibility. My college roommate also received a medical hardship while in college to grant him a 6th year of eligibility. He missed an entire season due to shoulder surgery and missed another entire season due to a broken leg(compound fracture). It is very rare that the NCAA hands these out and since Chad Kelly did not redshirt due to injury during his true freshman year, he is not eligible to receive a medical hardship.

In order to be eligible for the medical hardship waiver, a student-athlete must have competed in at least one contest in the first half of the season, but no more than three contests or 30%, whichever is greater (14.2.4). The total number of contests is calculated by the schedule on the first date of competition. Participation in Conference postseason is counted as one competition.

If a student-athlete is unable to compete at all during an entire season because of an injury or illness, the student-athlete may not file for a medical hardship waiver.

Additional Eligibility Considerations

Academic Redshirt

In 2016, a new status could be applied to prospective student athletes, dubbed an academic redshirt. That year, the NCAA started enforcing new, stricter admissions requirements for incoming athletic freshmen. Under these new requirements, a student athlete who meets a school's own academic admission requirements but does not meet the NCAA requirement of a 2.3 GPA across four years, may enter school as an academic redshirt. This student can receive an athletic scholarship and practice with the team, but may not participate in competition. An academic redshirt does not lose a year of eligibility, and may later take an injury redshirt if needed.

Grayshirt

An athlete may also use a "grayshirt" year, in which the athlete attends school as neither a full-time student nor the recipient of a scholarship. The athlete is an unofficial member of the team and does not participate in practices, games, or receive financial assistance from the athletic department. One example is an athlete who is injured right before college and requires an entire year to recuperate. Rather than waste the redshirt, the athlete can attend school as a part-time student and join the team later. This is also used by athletes with religious obligations, serving in the military, or completing missionary work that keeps them out of school for a season. Any eligibility lost during this time is deferred to future seasons.

Blueshirt

"Blueshirt" athletes are those that the NCAA does not classify as a "recruited student-athlete". They have never made an official visit to the school, met with the school's athletic employees, had more than one phone call with them, or received a scholarship offer. These athletes are walk-ons, but can receive scholarships after enrolling; although they are immediately eligible to compete, their scholarships count for the school's quota in the following year.

Pinkshirt

A pinkshirt refers to a female athlete who misses a season due to pregnancy. The pinkshirt is only applicable if they do not compete during that season.

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