UF coach: End redshirting
McElwain likes idea of allowing 5 years of playing eligibility.
GAINESVILLE — A number of coaches were asked during the SEC spring teleconference about a proposal by t h e A mer i c a n Fo o t b a l l C oac he s Ass oc i a t i on t o allow players to maintain their redshirt year while also playing in up to four games.
Florida coach Jim McElwain took it even further in his response.
“I think why not just let them play? Give them the fifive years of eligibility and call it the way it is,” he said.
The AFCA has reportedly forwarded the proposal to amend redshirt rules on to the NCAA.
As it presently stands, players have fifive years to complete their four seasons of eligibility. Once they play in any game, the opportunity to take a redshirt year is lost, though in the case of injury, players may petition the NCAA for a medical redshirt if they played in only a certain percentage of the season.
SEC coaches on the teleconference Monday voiced strong support to change that rule, simplify the whole process and let true freshmen get some experience without losing a season of eligibility.
“As you get later in the se ason, now you’ve got those guys you’d like to get in there that played in whatever, 20 percent of the fifirst — I’m not real good at math anyway, so trying to fifigure out when to use them and not to use them. But I do think that’s a good rule,” McElwain said.
McElwain faced questions late last season as to whether he would consider pulling freshman quarterback Feleipe Franks’ redshirt to get an early look at what the Gators may have at that position in 2017. Ultimately, the coaches chose to stick with fififth- year senior Austin Appleby through the Outback Bowl.
“We went far enough down the road and obviously Austin Appleby was here