Quote:It's fairly straight forward. Last year he was a true freshman, but was ineligible to play because of his red shirt status. This year he is a red shirt freshman, because it is his first year of NCAA eligibility. Were he not red shirted he would be a true sophomore this year. This allows you to extend the NCAA eligibility of athletes.

 

True Freshman - academic year 1           Red Shirt Freshman - academic year 2

True Sophomore - academic year 2         Red Shirt Sophomore - academic year 3

True Junior - academic year 3                  Red Shirt Junior - academic year 4

True Senior - academic year 4                 Red Shirt Senior - academic year 5


It's a "stash a jar on the shelf" sort of situation. 

 

What it is may be fairly straightfoward, but why it is that way definitely is not. That is what I don't understand. Why do that instead of just call him what he is, a sophomore, so everyone knows it is his second year since he graduated from high school? I don't care if he redshirted. I only care about how many years he has been in school.

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