What do the terms ';red shirt freshman,'; and ';true freshman'; mean...I hear it all time. (college footbal)

A redshirt freshman practices with the team, but doesn't play, so the redshirt year is not deducted from the 4 years of college eligibility.What do the terms ';red shirt freshman,'; and ';true freshman'; mean...I hear it all time. (college footbal)
A ';true'; freshman is a player who plays his very first year out of high school. A ';red shirt'; freshman is a player who sits out his first year out of high school, but retains all his eligibility. Players usually are red shirted because they need more physical development, or they're not quite good enough to break the depth chart, or sometimes it is because of an injuryWhat do the terms ';red shirt freshman,'; and ';true freshman'; mean...I hear it all time. (college footbal)
An athlete can play for 4 years at a school. The school can opt to have the athlete red shirt in their first year (called true freshman) they are a part of the team, but cannot play in games.
True freshman means they are in their first ';real'; year of college.


Red Shirt means that's their first year at THAT college and they are ineligible to play.
A ';red shirt freshman'; is actually a sophmore who sat his first year but still can practice. A ';true freshman'; is a student who is in his first year at collage. A team can redshirt a player who they do not wish to play.
I know a redshirt freshman is a freshman who is on the team, does not play one minute of any game during their freshman year. And instead they can play an extra year.


So instead of 4 yrs of play they get 5 yrs, but the 1st yr they don't play one minute of any game.


I don't know what true freshman means!
True fresman means it is the players first full year of playing. I they are redshirt freshmen it means they are injured(usually) and they sit out their first year. They do not lose their elgibility.This even happens at the high school level. I have heard that in Texas students are held back a year so they are bigger and stronger for their senior year. They take football seriously in Texas.
red shirt means they are unable to play that year
red shirt is not playing true is they play i believe