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Red Shirt Strategies

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bukIpower

Head Coach
I'm interested to know how everyone here would handle the 4 games of eligibility for the true freshmans...Mine is as followed.

Play them as early and as quick as possible because later in the year if there's an injury then they have the 4 games of experience. If someone starting gets hurt forcing a true freshman to contribute the red shirt will be burned anyways so it shouldn't matter which 4 games they play.

So this year I would have them play...

Oregon State, Rutgers, Tulane and Indiana.

Later in the year our starters will be more fresh and true freshman will hsve experience just in case.
 
For those that are already ready, I definitely agree. There's a second group, though, who may be more ready after half a season of practice. I love the idea of fresh reserves playing quality minutes late in the season. That would save some wear and tear on the two-deep for the stretch run and get the young guys real B1G experience that will pay off.
 
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RugbyBuck said:
For those that are already ready, I definitely agree. There's a second group, though, who may be more ready after half a season of practice. I love the idea of fresh reserves playing quality minutes late in the season. That would save some wear and tear on the two-deep for the stretch run and get the young guys real B1G experience that will pay off.
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Yea i struggle with that... giving relief late in the season would be great. Especially vs Maryland/Nebraska/IU that will probably end up being fairly comfortable wins
 
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I think it's a balance, obviously there are the guys the coaches already know are ready to contribute who are going to play here and there all season anyway. For the rest getting them in early and often to gain experience/show something against actual live game competition (be it against scrubs) and building off that when it comes to practice/maybe playing the rest of the year.
 
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Interesting topic. IMO we have seen two many players RS and then leave after four, or even three, years with the program.

So there are two groups.

The first are the extremely talented, particularly the speed players. Use them fully or lose that year.

The second are the group that needs time to develop. If you use them in the early games kids from this group simply aren't ready. Game reps for these kids - likely third and fourth stringers who are getting limited practice reps - are of limited value. We only redshirted 6 Frosh last season. If there are extra game reps to be had I am sure some of the other 79 scholarship players and the walk ons could make good use of them. If these kids are ready come November, use those four games. I don't think they will be any less effective because they missed a snap or two against Oregon St.

All that said, it would be interesting to see what proportion of the kids who eventually transfer were redshirts. These kids end up sitting one of their five years of eligibility on the bench that could have been used as their transfer year. But again, IMO 98% of the benefit a player in this group gets from being at OSU they get on the practice field.
 
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I thought the point was that if a player gets hurt late in the year, or you've got a couple of stars who choose to not play in their bowl game, you can play the freshman without burning his redshirt. I guess I'd maybe play the guys in 1-2 early games, but hold a couple of games in reserve, in case you still want to hold onto the redshirt. If, after 6-8 games, you choose to burn someone's redshirt, you've already got a couple of games under your belt.
 
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If they’re ready then I’d try and spread meaningful reps to get everyone two games early, and save them for two games late.

Interesting counterpoint is that this is most valuable for KO coverage, which is completely wiped out by the new fair catch rule.
 
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If they are truly ready like Togiai, Ruckert and a couple others might be, don't even worry about the redshirt because they wont be here long enough to use it.

some borderline guys, I'd say it's definitely by ear. Play them Oregon State and Rutgers for sure since they'll get an opener and a conference game under their belts. Then you've got to play it by ear. If they warrant more PT, you give it. IF they are on the border I'd hold them back a touch in case of injuries where they're going to have to possibly burn it but get two more weeks cushion just in case.

Its damn hard to tell these days but few guys at Ohio State tend to actually play on the field for 4 years anymore. If you are good enough to play here, you are almost guaranteed a pro tryout anyway. Guys aren't likely to do the 5th year much anymore except for select few. At least, not at this recruiting clip they aren't.
 
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I don't see the new rules changing much. I think the amount of kids that RS here will remain small. I think those kids will see a small amount of action in one or two early season games where we go up by 7+ scores. The real benefit will be for some of those kids who haven't been on campus long enough to contribute right away to be able to play during a bowl game without having to worry about having their RS burned. Of course, here's to us being a perennial participant in the playoffs and not having that situation occur.
 
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