Here's complete BYU redshirting article
I wrote an article for the printed version of the Salt Lake Tribune today about BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall's new redshirt policy and how it differs from the practice of redshirting overall throughout the country.
I noticed that only about one-sixth of the story can be accessed online at www.sltrib.com, and haven't been able to reach our webmaster today to get it fixed, so here it is in its entirety for those of you who do not get the printed Tribune and have grown tired of waiting....
It is an annual rite of August that takes place on college campuses across the country: The head football coach calls a player into his office a week or so before the season opens and says, "We would like you to redshirt this year."
This month, though, it won't be happening at Brigham Young.
Coach Bronco Mendenhall made the announcement, almost as an aside, the first week of 2008 fall camp that he is veering from the course he has followed in the past - and the route taken by almost every Division I football coach in the country - and will not tell players they will redshirt before the season begins.
Instead, he will decide after the season or, perhaps, after a couple seasons.
"What I don't like is the view of entitlement [that redshirting brings], of, ‘If I am not going to play, I am going to redshirt,' " Mendenhall said. "I think a redshirt is to be earned now."
Redshirting is a common practice throughout the country in which players are asked to sit out a season. Redshirt seasons do not count against a player's eligibility, and many who redshirt do it so they will have five years to play four.
A player "burns" his redshirt year when he gets in one play, unless he gets injured and successfully appeals to the NCAA to get it back.
Mendenhall said he is changing his approach to keep players from "taking the year" off once they have been told they won't play, noting that he has had players whose commitment level dropped once they learned they were going to be redshirted.
"It is a different philosophy," he acknowledged. "But just because a player is on the team for one year and doesn't play doesn't mean that year is a year he is going to have [back], eligibility wise."
Really, all redshirts are not official until the end of the season. Mendenhall's change is that he won't decide them or announce them at the start of the year, as most programs do.
Of course, once a player has been told that plans are to redshirt him, there's nothing that says he can't play if he's needed. That happened at Utah last year, coach Kyle Whittingham said.
The week before the 2007 opener against Oregon State, Whittingham decided he was going to redshirt running back Darrell Mack and announced it at his weekly press conference. But Matt Asiata suffered a broken leg in the game, ending his season and forcing him to redshirt, and Mack's redshirt was pulled off.
All he did was finish with 1,204 rushing yards - third-most by a player in a season in school history.
Whittingham wouldn't comment on the new redshirt policy at archrival BYU, but said that if a player can help the Utes, he will play, and the guys who aren't ready yet will redshirt.
"We aren't going to make any decisions on redshirts right now, probably not until the last week of practice before [Utah plays] Michigan," he said. "We're going to use anyone who can help us out."
As for Mack, he said having coaches say they want to redshirt you is one of the most difficult things players have to deal with.
"The hardest thing is you work your hardest and you think you are doing a good job and they tell you at the end of camp," he said. "It changes your whole mind-set."
Now, the players at BYU don't have to worry about that.
One of the things that has made Mendenhall successful at BYU is that his players all seem to buy in to his motivational techniques, changes and methods. That's why no players are grumbling about the latest news regarding redshirts, senior safety Kellen Fowler said.
"I don't think players can argue with what he hopes to accomplish with the change," said Fowler, who has already graduated and been accepted to Virginia Law School. "He has a good purpose in mind, which is to help people move along in school, rather than messing around, taking their time, filling classes because they know they have five years to graduate."
Fowler, born in San Diego just prior to the 1983 Holiday Bowl, is almost 25, but says he is happy he was redshirted upon returning from an LDS Church mission in 2006, although it was not easy news to take back then. He understood, though, because he had "missionary legs" and a few nagging injuries.
"Close to the end of camp, coach Mendenhall came to me and said, ‘Hey, we feel as a coaching staff that it would be best for you to redshirt this year, get totally healthy, and come back.'"
Now, players in BYU camp such as Jerry Bruner, Michael Alisa, Garett Nicholson and Shiloah Te'o won't have that luxury of knowing or not.
"I am sure the coaching staff will deal with it in a way that is positive for the players and still gives them their best experience possible," Fowler said.
Quarterback who redshirted his first year at Arizona State, said he agrees with the change because it will improve the program and weed out the players who aren't totally committed.
"It might make guys appreciate having a scholarship and it might make guys appreciate having a redshirt year," he said. "Coach Mendenhall just wants guys to help the team, he wants guys that come in every day and work their tail off to get better."
Mendenhall hopes the new policy will keep players working hard and involved not only during the season, but the offseason as well. That's why he says redshirt seasons could be taken away years after they were taken, thereby shooing a player out the door.
Scholarships are actually renewed on a year-to-year basis, but it is considered in bad taste or even unethical to run players off before they have completed their eligibility. The coach said this is just another way of making everyone in the program accountable.
"Since that tone has been set, I like it and I think it prepares them more for the real world, where, you can't really take a year off and just be in an organization or on a team and [expect] it to be paid for," he said. ". . .They will have to earn the redshirt year as a privilege, which is what it is."
I noticed that only about one-sixth of the story can be accessed online at www.sltrib.com, and haven't been able to reach our webmaster today to get it fixed, so here it is in its entirety for those of you who do not get the printed Tribune and have grown tired of waiting....
It is an annual rite of August that takes place on college campuses across the country: The head football coach calls a player into his office a week or so before the season opens and says, "We would like you to redshirt this year."
This month, though, it won't be happening at Brigham Young.
Coach Bronco Mendenhall made the announcement, almost as an aside, the first week of 2008 fall camp that he is veering from the course he has followed in the past - and the route taken by almost every Division I football coach in the country - and will not tell players they will redshirt before the season begins.
Instead, he will decide after the season or, perhaps, after a couple seasons.
"What I don't like is the view of entitlement [that redshirting brings], of, ‘If I am not going to play, I am going to redshirt,' " Mendenhall said. "I think a redshirt is to be earned now."
Redshirting is a common practice throughout the country in which players are asked to sit out a season. Redshirt seasons do not count against a player's eligibility, and many who redshirt do it so they will have five years to play four.
A player "burns" his redshirt year when he gets in one play, unless he gets injured and successfully appeals to the NCAA to get it back.
Mendenhall said he is changing his approach to keep players from "taking the year" off once they have been told they won't play, noting that he has had players whose commitment level dropped once they learned they were going to be redshirted.
"It is a different philosophy," he acknowledged. "But just because a player is on the team for one year and doesn't play doesn't mean that year is a year he is going to have [back], eligibility wise."
Really, all redshirts are not official until the end of the season. Mendenhall's change is that he won't decide them or announce them at the start of the year, as most programs do.
Of course, once a player has been told that plans are to redshirt him, there's nothing that says he can't play if he's needed. That happened at Utah last year, coach Kyle Whittingham said.
The week before the 2007 opener against Oregon State, Whittingham decided he was going to redshirt running back Darrell Mack and announced it at his weekly press conference. But Matt Asiata suffered a broken leg in the game, ending his season and forcing him to redshirt, and Mack's redshirt was pulled off.
All he did was finish with 1,204 rushing yards - third-most by a player in a season in school history.
Whittingham wouldn't comment on the new redshirt policy at archrival BYU, but said that if a player can help the Utes, he will play, and the guys who aren't ready yet will redshirt.
"We aren't going to make any decisions on redshirts right now, probably not until the last week of practice before [Utah plays] Michigan," he said. "We're going to use anyone who can help us out."
As for Mack, he said having coaches say they want to redshirt you is one of the most difficult things players have to deal with.
"The hardest thing is you work your hardest and you think you are doing a good job and they tell you at the end of camp," he said. "It changes your whole mind-set."
Now, the players at BYU don't have to worry about that.
One of the things that has made Mendenhall successful at BYU is that his players all seem to buy in to his motivational techniques, changes and methods. That's why no players are grumbling about the latest news regarding redshirts, senior safety Kellen Fowler said.
"I don't think players can argue with what he hopes to accomplish with the change," said Fowler, who has already graduated and been accepted to Virginia Law School. "He has a good purpose in mind, which is to help people move along in school, rather than messing around, taking their time, filling classes because they know they have five years to graduate."
Fowler, born in San Diego just prior to the 1983 Holiday Bowl, is almost 25, but says he is happy he was redshirted upon returning from an LDS Church mission in 2006, although it was not easy news to take back then. He understood, though, because he had "missionary legs" and a few nagging injuries.
"Close to the end of camp, coach Mendenhall came to me and said, ‘Hey, we feel as a coaching staff that it would be best for you to redshirt this year, get totally healthy, and come back.'"
Now, players in BYU camp such as Jerry Bruner, Michael Alisa, Garett Nicholson and Shiloah Te'o won't have that luxury of knowing or not.
"I am sure the coaching staff will deal with it in a way that is positive for the players and still gives them their best experience possible," Fowler said.
Quarterback who redshirted his first year at Arizona State, said he agrees with the change because it will improve the program and weed out the players who aren't totally committed.
"It might make guys appreciate having a scholarship and it might make guys appreciate having a redshirt year," he said. "Coach Mendenhall just wants guys to help the team, he wants guys that come in every day and work their tail off to get better."
Mendenhall hopes the new policy will keep players working hard and involved not only during the season, but the offseason as well. That's why he says redshirt seasons could be taken away years after they were taken, thereby shooing a player out the door.
Scholarships are actually renewed on a year-to-year basis, but it is considered in bad taste or even unethical to run players off before they have completed their eligibility. The coach said this is just another way of making everyone in the program accountable.
"Since that tone has been set, I like it and I think it prepares them more for the real world, where, you can't really take a year off and just be in an organization or on a team and [expect] it to be paid for," he said. ". . .They will have to earn the redshirt year as a privilege, which is what it is."
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