Nebraska football: The good and the bad of a proposed red-shirt rule change
Nebraska football could find some uses for the new rule quickly.
While the rule wouldn’t affect the 2017 season, there’s little doubt that some Nebraska football minds immediately thought of Tre Bryant when they heard of this change. Bryant had a fantastic start to the season, but was injured for good against Oregon.
The way the rules stand now, he won’t be able to automatically make the season a redshirt season. Under the new rule he would, if the same thing happened this year.
The good news for Bryant, is that he’ll likely get a medical redshirt, because he missed time due to injury. Imagine not having to hope the NCAA rules in his favor though.
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Bryant’s situation is just the tip of the iceberg. True freshman would be able to make an immediate impact, as long as coaches played it right.
Say you have a much ballyhooed freshman who isn’t quite ready to go against the big boys in September. This change would allow you to sit him out, pratice him all season, and bring him in for the final three or four games of the season.
The effect would basically be like the team making a trade deadline deal for the stretch run. The big difference being they wouldn’t have to trade anyone away.
Even if that true freshman doesn’t play as well as people thought in those four games, he’d be coming into next year, as a redshirt freshman, with big game experience. If your mind didn’t immediately flash to Tre Bryant, did it flash to Adrian Martinez?
The Nebraska football team got a much-ballyhooed dual-threat quarterback in Martinez during the early signing period. Imagine not having to worry about burning his shirt, but still getting him valuable snaps next year.
The Huskers could ease him into the situation in 2018 and then tell him “hey, you’re going to be the starting quarterback for the four years after that. They’d be telling him the truth.
The Nebraska football team and other big time programs could stockpile talent in a way they haven’t been able to do for the last couple of decades.