College Football

Posted by Bob on October 29, 2000

In Reply to: College Football posted by Steve Brown on October 29, 2000

: Where does the term "Redshirt...(Freshman)" come from?

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) offers colleges the opportunity to select athletes who are talented but not yet ready for competition, and let them practice with, but not play with, a team. On football teams, traditionally, they are identified in practice by wearing a red sleeveless vest over their uniform. Once they begin to play, they begin to use their allotted 4 years of eligibilty. So, a promising 18-year-old quarterback, on a team with a solid senior quarterback in place, would redshirt the lad, give him a year to mature when he's not needed anyway, and exploit him for gain for 4 more years.