F O O T B A L L
Coaches fine-tuning approach to new redshirt rule
A year ago, James Franklin's preseason
plans for the newest members of his
football team, the Class of 2018, were in
many ways similar to the plans he had put
in place in previous years. He was going
to put players into green, yellow and red
categories. The greens were regarded by
the coaching sta= as having the ability to
contribute immediately. The yellows
were potential contributors, while the
reds most likely needed a full year of de-
velopment before they would be ready to
see game action.
Last year's green group included tight
end Pat Freiermuth, running back Ricky
Slade, linebackers Jesse Luketa and
Micah Parsons, kickers Jake Pinegar and
Rafael Checa and defensive tackle P.J.
Mustipher.
However, changes to the NCAA's red-
shirt rules allowed for a fourth, as-yet-
unseen possibility. One of the changes
allowed players to see action in as many
as four games without sacri;cing a year
of eligibility. That gave the yellows a
much better chance of getting on the
;eld.
"I think our plan was good early on,"
Franklin said. "We were talking about
playing the ;rst three games and then
saving a game at the end for a bowl game
or things like that.
"We kind of revised that, and we were
[thinking], two games early to see who's
ready and who's not. We went with two
because you would like to be able to have
a little bit of
