Scenario: a rostered player is injured in the pre-season and misses the majority of the season. He recovers and is healthy late in the season but faces the prospect of little playing time due to having to re-establish himself with no recent game experience and the fact that roles are pretty well locked in late in the season. He may be interested in a looking at a redshirt year given the prospect of very little, if any, playing time.
Question: Is the redshirt only possible at the discretion and approval of the coach? If the coach says no to the request is the player pretty much limited to accepting the burning of a year of eligibility for a couple innings played? Can he independently petition for a red shirt to some other authority? Is the only other option to quit the team and transfer, and if so would he still loose the year of eligibility because he's already rostered and also have to sit another year due to the transfer, thus effectively not playing ball for two years?
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