One of the most valuable pieces of clothing in college football is one that really exists in a figurative sense.
The redshirt is gold in that sport. It allows a player to practice and train with a team for a season without losing a year of eligibility, provided that player doesn't see the field during that season. For some positions, it's a godsend. Offensive linemen can gain mass and get stronger, changing their high-school bodies into college-ready machines. Quarterbacks spend a year learning the system so, if they're forced into duty as redshirt freshmen, they don't line up under center with a scant few months of education.
It's so valuable that burning a redshirt is a risk coaches don't take lightly, and usually comes as a last resort. After all, why eliminate a year of eligibility for a couple of games' worth of action unless it's absolutely necessary?
Yet there's an idea being bandied about by college coaches - and a good idea at that - which would afford those coaches some flexibility.
The American Football Coaches Association is suggesting to the NCAA that players be allowed four games to play before a redshirt disappears, provided that player doesn't see the field again that year. That rule already exists when it comes to season-ending injuries. If a player competes in 30 percent or fewer of his team's games in a season, he can apply for a medical redshirt if he's hurt for the rest of the season.
Coaches all over the country love the idea. It can allow for four games of apprenticeship to acclimate a player to college competition. It can give teams some injury backup without penalty. It can even allow redshirt freshmen to play in bowl games.
West Virginia's Football Bowl Subdivision teams have come up against some tough redshirt questions in recent years. Injuries in the running back depth chart forced WVU coach Dana Holgorsen to tear off Martell Pettaway's redshirt on Nov. 26 against Iowa State. Pettaway rewarded Holgorsen's move with 30 carries for 180 yards and a touchdown against the Cyclones, but he registered just 19 carries for 79 yards in WVU's final two games. And now that year of eligibility is gone.
Marshall twice since 2011 had to deal with quarterback redshirt issues. In 2015, the likely hope was that Michael Birdsong could carry the Thundering Herd as its starter under center, allowing true freshman Chase Litton to serve as the backup but not lose a year of eligibility as long as he didn't play. But an injury to Birdsong led Herd coach Doc Holliday to start Litton, who won his first seven starts and guided the Herd to a St. Petersburg Bowl win. In that instance, stripping that redshirt paid off.
The situation was a little hairier for Marshall the previous time the Herd was in a St. Petersburg bowl, the 2011 Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl. Reserve quarterbacks A.J. Graham and Blake Frohnapfel were out with season-ending injuries and Eddie Sullivan, rather than watch his redshirt go up in smoke, left the team in November. In that Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl, Rakeem Cato was the team's starter and wide receiver Jermain Kelson was the backup. It Cato had gone down, the Herd would have been hurting.
Enact the rule the AFCA is supporting, and Pettaway keeps his eligibility year, Litton could have gone back to the bench if Holliday wanted to make that move and Sullivan wouldn't have worried about his redshirt year if he needed to be brought in. The four-game rule offers flexibility where none used to exist. And with the number of plays per game - and the number of opportunities per game to get hurt - on the rise in the sport, having some injury insurance would be nice. Plus, any college football coach or player will tell you there's no substitute for live game action. This proposed rule would afford players up to four games of it.
Some version of this rule should be adopted by the NCAA, and sooner rather than later. It's a solution that makes sense, one that would make college football players and coaches breathe easier. The fewer holes in those redshirts, the better.
Contact Derek Redd at 304-348-1712 or derek.redd@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @derekredd.