BYU Football: NCAA amends and clarifies redshirt rule to Cougars’ benefit

With a new rule announced by the NCAA, football players can play up to four games and still qualify for a redshirt. This flexibility will benefit BYU, both the coaches and players.

The NCAA has been busy at their Division I Council meetings this week in Indianapolis.

First, the council announced a change to the transfer rule for student-athletes across all sports.

Now they’ve also changed the redshirt rule for football.

Starting next season, players can play up to four games and still be eligible for a redshirt year.

This applies to all types of redshirts, including medical ones.

The new standard across the board makes things much simpler for coaches and athletes. It will cut down on the number of times a student-athlete has to apply for their redshirt, since it’s much more clearly defined.

As with most rules, though, the NCAA can still grant exceptions to the new rule, but those figure to become less common.

Win-Win Situation

The rule is intended to benefit both coaches and players, and it should succeed in both.

For coaches, they’ll have less worry about having to use a young player for a game or two without burning their redshirt year, especially if a veteran goes down with an injury.

It’s all about flexibility.

For BYU Football, that flexibility is even more important. Since the Cougars are juggling missions as well, the roster tends to be even more volatile than at other schools. Now Kalani Sitake and the staff can fill in the game-by-game gaps as needed with young players.

For the players the benefits are twofold. First, there’s less pressure for the veterans to rush back from injury or play through it. With a younger player being able to fill in for a game or two without losing their redshirt, the veteran can use that extra time to fully heal.

And a week or two can make all the difference.

Plus, it gives redshirts extra incentive to perform well in practice. Those that stand out will be the ones to play in a few games and still have four more complete years to play.

And for BYU, as returned missionaries get back into playing shape, they can earn playing time in games at the end of the season without losing that redshirt.

It’s not often that a policy or rule change benefits everyone involved. This should be of those instances.