Understanding the Redshirt in College Football 25 and NCAA Eligibility

In the landscape of college athletics in the United States, the term "redshirt" carries significant weight, influencing an athlete's eligibility and career trajectory. A redshirt year allows student-athletes to extend their time in college, providing opportunities for academic and athletic development. This article delves into the meaning of redshirting, the implications for NCAA eligibility, and recent changes and controversies surrounding the practice, especially in light of the release of College Football 25.

The Basics of Redshirting

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.

The term "redshirt" is used as a verb, noun, and noun adjunct. 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.

Key Redshirt Terms:

Redshirt Freshman: 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.
Redshirt Sophomore: A student-athlete typically an academic junior who is using a second year of athletic eligibility.
Redshirt Senior: 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 student athlete who is a fifth-year undergraduate student who has five years of eligibility.
True Freshman: A student-athlete who is in their first year as an undergraduate student.

Why Redshirt? Benefits and Strategic Uses

Student athletes just out of high school may not be ready for the academic and athletic demands at the university level. 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. 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.

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Enhancing Player Development in College Football 25

"Redshirt is a system in college football that offers an opportunity to players who get seriously hurt or are unable to touch the field for a long time for some other reasons, allowing these players to retain their el…"

Redshirting players: In this menu, we can redshirt any player who has played less than four games. We have to be careful when redshirting players, because if you redshirt a very experienced player, but they use playing time as a core value, you are likely to lose that player in Transfer Portal.

To become a redshirted player in College Football 25 Road To Glory, you need to have played less than four games in your freshman year. So we are very lucky that the team can redshirt us, so we have an extra year. If you want a full four-year-career, either choose a school that you can play immediately after joining, or choose a school that will allow you to redshirt after gaining experience points. The first method guarantees that you get playing time, and we can also use Transfer Portal.

Special Cases and Variations

Beyond the standard redshirt, several variations exist to address specific circumstances:

Medical Redshirt: A special case involves the eligibility of an athlete who loses the majority of a season to injury, popularly known as a medical redshirt. 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.
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.

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. Generally, eligibility must be used up within six years of enrolling at an eligible NCAA institution. Redshirts and medical redshirt eligibility deferrals cannot go beyond this six-year period. This rule does not apply to other collegiate sports organizations, like the NAIA, where nontraditional students are allowed to compete.

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The Impact of COVID-19 on Eligibility

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an additional year of eligibility was granted by the NCAA to student athletes who met certain criteria. Because the NCAA gave a free season of eligibility to student-athletes affected by disruptions brought on by COVID-19, this led to many athletes competing in a seventh season during the 2021-22 academic year. One example is Summer Allen of Weber State, whose competitive college career spanned nine seasons. She competed in both the 2013 and 2021 NCAA Women's Division I Cross Country Championship.

Legal Challenges and the Pavia Case

On December 18, 2024, a United States District Court issued a preliminary injunction in favor of Diego Pavia after preliminarily finding that NCAA Division I by-laws 12.02.06 and 14.3.3 and the rules in the NCAA Division I 2024-25 Manual constitute a commercial agreement, can be replaced by a less restrictive alternative and cause irreparable harm to Pavia. The injunction prevents the NCAA from enforcing by-law 12.02.6 and rule 12.11.4.2 against Pavia, Vanderbilt University or any other Division I institution for which Pavia chooses to play football in 2025. (c) Competes and receives expenses (e.g., transportation, meals, housing, entry fees) from the institution for the competition.

Diego Pavia played for two seasons at New Mexico Military, an NJCAA institution. One of those two seasons is not counted by the NCAA for determining eligibility, because it is exempted by the NCAA's blanket COVID waiver. Counting the second year at New Mexico Military along with two seasons at New Mexico State (2022 and 2023) and one season at Vanderbilt (2024) would mean his eligibility was exhausted at the conclusion of the 2024 football season. The injunction effectively prohibits the NCAA from including Pavia's participation at New Mexico Military in determining his eligility, which means he is eligible for 2025.

Forms of punishment available under rule 12.11.4.2 include vacating the student-athlete's athletic records as well as those of the institution achieved while the student-athlete participated, vacating team victories in which the student-athlete participated, forfeiture of awards presented to both the student-athlete and the team, revocation of postseason eligibility for the team and financial penalties assessed to the institution.

Diego Pavia's injunction is not a final determination of the judicial system as to whether the NCAA may count participation by a student-athlete at non-NCAA institutions in determining eligibility. The injunction was issued based on the court's analysis of the available facts and a conclusion that the eligibility restrictions imposed by the NCAA appear to likely violate the Sherman Antitrust Act and will cause irreparable harm to Pavia, if he were not permitted to play Division I football in 2025, since he estimated he could earn approximately US$1 million in name, image and likeness (NIL) compensation by playing. The court noted in the injunction that it agreed with the NCAA that a more robust analysis of the eligibility rules may reveal that they do not violate the Sherman Antitrust Act.

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While the injunction specifically applies only to Diego Pavia and does not mean that student-athletes may ignore non-NCAA participation when determining NCAA eligibility, should Pavia ultimately prevail, such outcome could force the NCAA to revisit its eligibility criteria. In the interim, the NCAA Division I board of directors approved a temporary blanket waiver for student-athletes who competed at a non-NCAA school for one or more years and would have exhausted their NCAA eligibility following the 2024-25 academic year under existing rules. The NCAA appealed the injunction in the Pavia case.

Redshirting in the Philippine NCAA and UAAP

In the Philippine National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), a student athlete moving from one member school to another are required to "serve residency" or sit-out for at least one season before they can represent their new school. Prior to 2015 when Republic Act 10676 was passed, students are mandated to serve two years of residency.

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