High school football players who would like to play the game in college in many cases are confronted with unfamiliar terms when they become involved in the college football recruiting process. In particular, they’ll often hear of the “redshirt,” along with the “grayshirt” and “greenshirt” – terms that make reference to player recruiting and player development strategies employed by many colleges in recruiting for football.
NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) rules allow a college football player five years to perform his four seasons of eligibility. That fifth year in which the ball player doesn’t compete on the field, although he practices and receives his scholarship in the same way every other player on a football scholarship, is known as the redshirt year. ทีเด็ดบอลชุด Usually, new recruits are redshirted their freshman year because they tend to need additional time to produce as college players who will subscribe to the success of the team. A freshman player who plays in games during his first year on campus (he isn’t redshirted) could have only three additional years to play, but a freshman who doesn’t play in games during his first year in college (he’s redshirted) will still have four more years of playing eligibility after that first year.
A high school player receives a greenshirt or is “greenshirted” when he graduates early from high school and thereby forgoes his spring semester there so that he can enroll in college for that semester. Almost unheard of until recent years, the greenshirt allows high school players to be involved in spring practice along with his college team, develop his football skills and comprehension of the team’s system throughout the spring and summer, and possibly begin playing in games the following fall. This method gives a player and the college team an earlier begin preparing to play football in college, but comes at the price of leaving high school early, which could or might not be the most effective long-term strategy for a student.
A new player gets a grayshirt or is “grayshirted” when he signs a letter of intent on signing day in February, but doesn’t enter college full-time until the following spring as opposed to the following fall. He doesn’t get a scholarship, practice with the team, or take a full-time load of college courses until his spring enrollment. Grayshirting a player allows a college to sign a player, but delay his play in games for another year. In effect, grayshirting gives a player another year of practice before play, because the NCAA-mandated five-year eligibility period doesn’t begin until a student is enrolled full-time. College programs which have already awarded near the utmost number allowed under NCAA rules are forced to sign a small recruiting class, and they are most interested in players who’re prepared to grayshirt.