I have tried to find this answer to this question on my own but for some reason I can't find it on the NCAA.org website. I need to find out how a medical red shirt works. My son had surgery last year and hasn't been released from the doctor yet to play this year. The coach said he could get a medical red shirt. Does he have to sign something? Is there anything else that I need to know about this in order to maintain his eligibility?
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The school's athletic office needs to guide him through the process. The decision to redshirt, medical or not, is a school decision and not one your son can make. He can request one from them but the final decision is up to the school.
The term "red shirt," which is not part of the NCAA's vocabulary can cause confusion.
There are two events that commonly get called "medical red shirt".
--When a player is injured before a certain point in the season (around 20% of the regular season games if I recall correctly) and cannot play the rest of the season because of the injury. In this situation, the season does not count as one of the player's four seasons of competition.
--When a player cannot play at all because of an injury. This already does not count as a year of competition, and, if the school petitions the NCAA for a hardship waiver, the NCAA can declare that it does not count against the five-year clock. The key here is that the player cannot request the waiver--only the school.
If your son can still complete four years of competition within five years of when he started college, he doesn't need any waiver or paperwork at all.
Best wishes,
Swampboy posted:The term "red shirt," which is not part of the NCAA's vocabulary can cause confusion.
There are two events that commonly get called "medical red shirt".
--When a player is injured before a certain point in the season (around 20% of the regular season games if I recall correctly) and cannot play the rest of the season because of the injury. In this situation, the season does not count as one of the player's four seasons of competition.
--When a player cannot play at all because of an injury. This already does not count as a year of competition, and, if the school petitions the NCAA for a hardship waiver, the NCAA can declare that it does not count against the five-year clock. The key here is that the player cannot request the waiver--only the school.
If your son can still complete four years of competition within five years of when he started college, he doesn't need any waiver or paperwork at all.
Best wishes,
Swampboy is correct.
Keep in mind that the redshirt designation is determined after the fact, after the season is completed.
If the player on the roster doesn't play at all for whatever reason, he gets the year of eligibility awarded. There is no such thing as a medical redshirt, but rather a waiver requested end of season only if the player gets hurt as within the time period mentioned above. But if he is released to play before the end of the season, and he is needed, he may burn a year by one game.
So as pointed out, there is nothing you can do at this time.
In a similar situation, compounded by the fact that my son was redshirted his freshman year and is now a redshirt junior who will graduate in May with a year of eligibility left. It's my understanding that an athlete is permitted two redshirt years, but one must be medical. Is that right? Can a player participate for a few innings and still receive a redshirt? I.E., if his arm gets better before the season ends and they give him a few pity innings, will he still be able to receive an additional redshirt year and have two years of eligibility left?
