The Benefits of Redshirting

We live in a culture today that values instant gratification.  Staples of past generations such as newspapers, magazines and even Sportscenter are dying because everyone can access highlights and stories almost instantly.  Why wait for stories tomorrow morning or even this evening when you can get them on demand whenever you want them? This has also become the case in the sports recruiting world where everybody compares themselves to everyone else, instead of focusing on their own journey and barely acknowledging the time it takes to develop one’s ability and skills.  To listen to the media, Steph Curry just appeared out of the earth one day and started dominating the NBA.  What about his uncommon journey and hard work it took to go from a small college like Davidson to the NBA?Redshirting is a term that does not come up too regularly during the recruiting process.  Coaches don’t want to broach the subject for fear of driving a player away to another team. Athletes don’t want to talk about it because they fear it may make them seem inferior to other players at their position already on the team and to other players in their recruiting class.  The truth is that redshirting often provides a tremendous benefit to players that take advantage of the extra year of preparation as they await their opportunity to claim a starting spot on the team.  Players and parents should be aware and understand these benefits as they progress through the recruiting process.

Some guys just got “It"

Now before we move on, understand that each school and athlete are different.  Some players are so gifted athletically and physically that they are prepared to play collegiately from their first days on campus. You don’t have to look hard to find examples of athletes ready to compete immediately as true freshman and make an impact. Jordan Spieth helped lead the University of Texas Golf team to a National Championship his freshman year.  Carmelo Anthony led the Syracuse Orangemen to a NCAA basketball title as a true freshman in 2003, in addition to being named the most outstanding player in the tournament.  Adrian Peterson, while playing running back his true freshman year at Oklahoma in 2004, was named to the AP All-American team, was runner-up for the Heisman Trophy, and broke an NCAA record for Freshman rushing yards in a season. Some guys are just ready to compete at that level as 18 year-olds.These players mentioned above, as well as countless others, come to college with the physical ability to compete at a high level. Adrian Peterson was already built like an NFL running back when he arrived at Oklahoma. All they had to do was get him the ball. Some athletes may not be capable of handling the mental aspect of the game or of their college commitments, but the schools and the programs will take an added interest in these athletes to ensure they are ready for competition.But for all the hype and publicity these individuals get, it is only a very small fraction of athletes that are ready for the physical and emotion rigors of the college game as 18 year-olds.

For Everyone Else…

For the vast majority of college athletes, a redshirt year is not only recommended, but needed in order to prepare them both academically and athletically for college. Below I outline the benefits of accepting and taking advantage of a redshirt freshman year.

1) Long-term Value over Short-term Satisfaction

Often times, families and athletes can’t see the long-term benefit for the short-term sacrifice. Yes, you may have always dreamed of playing as a freshman, and if that happens, great!  But remember, when you play as a freshman, while great in many aspects, it also robs a young athlete of a full year of development on the front end of your college career and a year of competition on the back end.When I coached at SMU, I witnessed first hand players such as Emmanuel Sanders (Denver Broncos Wide Receiver) and Kelvin Beachum (Jacksonville Jaguars Offensive Tackle) use their redshirt freshman years to absolutely dominate when playing on scout team, while also developing their bodies and skills for the college game.  Both of these individuals were obviously talented enough to play, but the coaching staff knew they weren’t quite ready for college game and trusted their plan for development for each of these players, who both went on to great college careers leading up to both being drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers. I’m confident both of these players would tell you that their years as “5th year” seniors helped them immensely in getting drafted, much more than playing their freshman years would have.Even for athletes not going onto professional careers, trust me; You would much rather play a redshirt senior year after 4 years of college rather than try and force playing your true freshman year, when you most likely will not be able to contribute in a major fashion to your team.

2) You Are NOT Ready

If you were ready to play, you would be playing. It’s that simple.  In all honesty, a majority of coaches do not have the athlete's best interests in mind when deciding on redshirts.  If they think there is even a chance you can contribute to the team and help them win games to benefit their coaching career, they will happily burn your redshirt and let you play.College coaches have short life spans at each of their respective schools and they will do anything to win, so if they bring up redshirting to you, they are telling you that you need to develop your game before you can contribute to the team.  You need to use this year to mature both physically and emotionally.

3) Extra Year to Develop as a Person and in the Weight Room

Not taking advantage of this year by sulking and being mad because you’re not playing is the greatest mistake you will make as a college athlete.  First of all, even though coaches may be telling you that you are the future at your position, they are still recruiting for that position, and will continue to recruit for that position.  Taking the year off instead of busting your ass will result in 4 more years of sulking because “the coaches screwed me” my freshman mentality.  Grow up! Take your redshirt year as a learning opportunity, and live in the weight room.  Get bigger/faster/stronger. Your competition is coming, not only on opposing teams, but also in next years batch of freshman.This is the year you develop and strengthen the mindset that will determine your future success.  We all know about Michael Jordan getting cut from the varsity team as a Sophomore.  Use this redshirt year to fuel the fire inside you and construct the foundation your future successes will be built on.

4) Get your Academics In Order

Playing any sport in college is HARD! That is why so few have that opportunity.  Practicing your freshman year, doing your own laundry, being responsible for all your academics, and worrying about how you can ask out the cute girl in your math class can all be a bit overwhelming for the vast majority of us. There are a lot of things going on that you haven’t always been responsible for, and chances are, someone has always helped you with your academics, let alone your laundry. Take advantage of the resources your college has for you.  Develop a relationship with your academic counselor or tutor.  Spend a few hours in the library each week rewriting notes or reading for your class.  Your redshirt year is a great time to figure out what your routines of success are going to be while you don’t have the added pressure of competing your first year in college.Notable RedshirtsAndrew Luck (QB, Indianapolis Colts)Michael Vick (QB, Pittsburgh Steelers)Marcus Mariota (QB, Tennessee Titans)Jameis Winston (QB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers)Michael Crabtree (WR, Oakland Raiders)Clay Matthews (LB, Green Bay Packers)Dwyane Wade (PG, Miami Heat)Emmanuel Sanders (WR, Denver Broncos)Brett Hundley (QB, Green Bay Packers)Larry Bird (PF, Boston Celtics)*JJ Watt (DE, Houston Texans)* *Redshirt year came after transferring schoolsIt seems that everyone wants to get on the field as soon as possible, so they can go pro as soon as possible.   In reality, going pro in any sport is extremely rare. Unless you are a nationally ranked gymnast or golfer as a teen, going pro should be the farthest thing from your mind when making a college decision. So many things can happen in the 3 or 4 years from when your college decision is made.  An athlete could get injured, be out-recruited by a program, or experience a change in coaches that want to play the players they recruited.Families and athletes may be inclined eliminate schools from their list because a certain coaching staff didn’t guarantee early playing time, or even because they mentioned redshirting. In such cases, don’t hold one coaching staff’s vision against another.  Every school and program is different, with different depth charts and different ways of developing players. One should appreciate the honesty and vision when a coaching staff brings up redshirting to you and consider the long-term positive affect on an one’s athletic and academic career.  In this coach's humble opinion, a redshirt year is definitely the way to go for most athletes.  Use your redshirt year to develop your attitude and body, and enjoy the 4 years of competition after that.