Gray Shirts versus Red Shirts versus Neither

cogido · December 19, 2014

What is the value of gray shirting versus red shirting versus neither status? I know it's F-ball 101 but sometimes I have a hard time fitting the value in to the overall longevity of the team.

Ben Gooding · December 19, 2014

Gray shirting saves scholarships short term and gives coaching staff more time for evaluation and redshirting gives a player time to develop that is not a current need or simply isn't FBS ready. Still 4 years of eligibility remaining in both scenarios. Grayshirts also aren't with the team whereas redshirts are.

BillySee58 · December 19, 2014

Gray shirting saves scholarships short term and gives coaching staff more time for evaluation and redshirting gives a player time to develop that is not a current need or simply isn't FBS ready. Still 4 years of eligibility remaining in both scenarios. Grayshirts also aren't with the team whereas redshirts are.

Yes, but grayshirts also still have their redshirt eligibility. So they have 5 years to play 4, whereas redshirts only have 4 years to play 4 once they've redshirted.

Grayshirts and redshirts are not alternative options. A player can grayshirt, then redshirt the next year.

Any student who enrolls as a full-time student at any college (at least 12 hours) starts their eligibility counter. So if a student enrolls in 12 hours, completes the semester, then takes 5 years off and starts college again, their eligibility is gone and they can't compete in NCAA athletics. There are a few exceptions, like going on missions, but generally speaking that's how it goes.

A grayshirt is when a coach delays a student's full-time enrollment. That way they don't burn any eligibility. For example, Caleb Chumley graduated high school in 2014. The same year as players like Jeffery Wilson and Chris Miles. Wilson and Miles enrolled full time this semester, while Chumley was instructed not to do so.

Wilson played this year, Miles didn't, and Chumley wasn't a full-time student. Because of this Wilson will be a true sophomore next year with 4 years left to play 3, Miles will be a redshirt freshman with 4 years left to play 4, and Chumley (because he grayshirted) still has 5 years left to play 4. All different eligibility situations going forward, even though all three players graduated high school at the same time.

As for why you grayshirt/redshirt a player.

Normally you grayshirt a player because you have signed too many players in your class, so you delay a player or two and grayshirt them. Allowing them to enroll a semester later and be apart of your next signing class. Typically you do this with a player who is one of the more lightly recruited players and would most likely not have played as a true freshman.

There are a lot of different views on redshirts. Most will tell you that you'd ideally like to redshirt the majority of your true freshmen. You'd definitely like to redshirt players where their position requires a lot of mental growth before stepping on the field (QB), or physical growth (linemen). All true freshman can use a lot of either, so players can redshirt at any position and still end up being good players. But usually if a player doesn't redshirt, it's a good sign that he will be a good player.