PLEASE EXPLAIN THESE FRESHMAN

[mantaraydre]

COACHES,

1) TRUE FRESHMAN

2)RED SHIRT FRESHMAN

3) JUST A PLAIN OLE FRESHMAN

What's with the additional titles ?

It seems fashionable to say true freshman all over espn nowadays. i think they love that title !!!

mantaraydre

[Taylor]

A true freshman and a regular ole freshman are the same.
True being that they haven't been redshirted. They are a freshman in school.

Redshirt freshman being that they are a sophomore in college, but during their first year of being eligible (freshman year in college) they were redshirted which means to wait a year on a player by the coaches decision. A player will commonly get redshirted if a coach is deep in depth of the position that the player is to play, but will be low in depth in the same position next year, so the coach might redshirt him so he still gets 4 years of playing but starting the next year.
The player will still have one year of playing after his year he is scheduled to graduate.

So there are a few different people:

True Freshman (freshman year of college)
Redshirt Freshman (sophomore year of college)
Sophomore (sophomore year of college)
Redshirt Sophomore (junior year in college)
Junior (junior year in college)
Redshirt Junior (Senior year in college)
Senior (Senior year in college)
Redshirt Senior (one year out of college)

Its a pretty confusing thing.

You may want to type what a redshirt freshman is on google if you got confused by this.

[46defense]

you nailed it my friend.that is the exact definitions.i was a red shirt freshman basketball player at indiana st.,but not for having more players ay my position,but because i was injured during the very begining of my freshman season.but it was called a medical redshirt.

[gridironpainter]

I teach college and occasionally get football players in my classes. I was shocked when I found out that there are often students who transfer in who are coming to play football that have not yet played at the collegiate level and they are considered freshmen for sports if they have not used any eligibilty. I still don't think this is right, but it is what they have told me. There is one student that I had in class who is 24 and only played one year at a junior college before transfering and he is still considered a sophmore.

I am also amazed at how much maturing happens that first year among most freshmen, so I understand why they are often redshirted. That means that when an 18 or 19 year old comes straight out of high school and can contribute it really is a pretty amazing thing, especially when you consider how many older guys they are competing against for the spot.

I am sure those on here that played can clarify some of this better though.

[detroitchild]

Taylor,

I don't think a Google search could have explained it any better.

To take this convo in a slightly different direction, I must say that I'm old fashioned in that I believe freshmen should not play their first year of college. Most have waaay to much maturing to go through. The transition from high school to college is huge and many need that first year for the adjustment.

Having said that, I'm not naive enough to believe that we will return to those days. A lot of these freshmen come in more talented than upperclassmen. Also, many high school seniors would probably play a year or 2 overseas cutting out college all together. The NCAA (a collegiate branch of the Mafia in my opinion) would never let that happen.

Anywho, great job Taylor!

Another point is that to go to the NFL, you have to be 3 years out of high school. A lot of times people will talk about "Juniors" coming out in the draft, but some of them are "Redshirt sophomores"....so they still have 2 years of sports eligibility remaining. Michael Vick was a redshirt sophomore when he came out. And like another poster pointed out, years in college has nothing to do with years in sports. Every once in a while a guy will get a sixth year of eligibility for sports if he had a particular medical hardship...so that guy is taking grad school courses....

[mantaraydre]

COACHES,

Now that im just a pinch less confused. To acquire the title REDSHIRT sounds like your going back a year in playing time. I GUESS

You hear espn analyst sometimes,
' True freshmen joe smoe ran for 3 touchdowns in teams trouncing of whoever."

what happened to

" Joe smoe out of so and so state ran for 3 touchdowns in teams trouncing of whoever."

saying true freshman has become part of the sports world vocab !


MANTARAYDRE

[Taylor]

It is because when you hear true freshman it is a big deal. I think that Tim Tebow was a true freshman, but although they had Chris Leak too Tebow still did what he did against players three years older than him. This is a like a person who is one year out of high school playing mainly against players which are about to graduate college A redshirt freshman is normally older than a true freshman. So the redshirt freshman "should" have the ability advantage.

It is a bigger deal for a true freshman to rush for three touchdowns, rather than a redshirt freshman. Because as someone mentioned before, there is a huge difference in maturity from a freshman to a sophomore.

Taylor