Redshirt
Who is called a “redshirt”?
Who is meant by a redshirt in basketball?
Who is considered a redshirt?
Thousands of student-athletes play basketball at NCAA member colleges and universities each year. Players typically have four years of NCAA-eligible competition time to be completed in a five-year span.
Teams may designate a player as a “redshirt” allowing a non-competing player an opportunity to save a year of eligibility to be used at a later time. The player may not compete at any time during his redshirt season or he risks losing the designation and a year of eligibility.
According to the NCAA, the term “redshirt” means an athlete is not participating in competition for an entire academic year, but wishes to retain a year of eligibility for competition.
A qualifying NCAA athlete who has met all academic requirements prior to entering college for their freshman year has four years of eligibility for competition, regardless of what academic year they may be a part of during competition.
For example, should an athlete redshirt their freshman year, they would have four years of competition eligibility from her sophomore year on. This particular athlete may be a sophomore academically, but for competition purposes will be referred to as a “redshirt freshman”.
For an athlete to receive a standard redshirt, the NCAA requires that player not be involved in any competition for the year they are redshirted. Any amount of competition time, even 1 minute on a basketball court during a regular season game, for example, counts as a season of eligibility.
Redshirted athletes are allowed to travel, practice and even dress for competition for their team during their redshirt season, but the minute they step on the playing field, they lose their redshirt status and use a season of eligibility.
- We make dozens of free sports predictions every day.
The NCAA allows a seriously injured athlete to extend their eligibility period through a medical hardship exemption, commonly referred to by media outlets as a “medical redshirt”, though the NCAA does not use this terminology.
An athlete can qualify for this exemption if they have a documented, incapacitating injury or illness that occurred in the first half of the basketball season and the student-athlete has not participated in more than two contests or dates of competition or 20 percent of their team’s scheduled contests, whichever number is greater.
- Find the best odds for sports betting.
Examples of how Redshirt is used in commentary: Watkins has been having a hard-time adjusting to the speed of the college game during spring practice, so he’s going to take advantage of using his redshirt this year to help him get more familiar with the plays.