Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an additional year of eligibility was granted by the NCAA to student athletes who met certain criteria.
According to Merriam-Webster and Webster's Dictionary, the term redshirt comes from the red jersey commonly worn by such a player in practice scrimmages against the regulars.
Student-athletes who were matriculated while college athletics were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic were granted additional eligibility by the NCAA, even if their particiation was not affected in a significant way.
Athletes may be asked to redshirt if they would have little or no opportunity to compete as an academic freshman, which is a common occurrence in team sports where there is already an established upperclassman and/or too much depth[clarification needed] at a particular position.
The first athlete known to extend his eligibility in the modern era of redshirting was Warren Alfson of the University of Nebraska in 1937.
[2] Alfson requested that he be allowed to sit out his sophomore season due to the number of experienced players ahead of him.
In addition, he had not started college until several years after graduating from high school, and thus felt he needed more preparation.
On December 18, 2024, a United States District Court issued a preliminary injunction in favor of Diego Pavia after preliminarily finding that NCAA Division I by-laws 12.02.06[3] and 14.3.3[4] and the rules in the NCAA Division I 2024–25 Manual[5] constitute a commercial agreement, can be replaced by a less restictive alternative and cause irreparable harm to Pavia.
[6] The injunction effectively prohibits the NCAA from including Pavia's participation at New Mexico Military in determining his eligility, which means he is eligible for 2025.
The injunction was issued based on the court's analysis of the available facts and a conclusion that the eligibility restrictions imposed by the NCAA appear to likely violate the Sherman Antitrust Act and will cause irreparable harm to Pavia, if he were not permitted to play Division I football in 2025, since he estimated he could earn approximately US$1 million in name, image and likeness (NIL) compensation by playing.
The court noted in the injunction that it agreed with the NCAA that a more robust analaysis of the eligibility rules may reveal that they do not violate the Sherman Antitrust Act.
However, the court did not expect final resolution of the litigation to occur in time for Pavia to play the 2025 football season.
In January 2017, the trade association for college football coaches, the American Football Coaches Association, proposed a change to that sport's eligibility rules that maintains the current model of four years of play in five years, but significantly changes the redshirt rule.
[9] Shortly after the start of the 2024 season, NCAA Division I (both FBS and FCS) adopted a change to redshirt rules.
This rule does not apply to other collegiate sports organizations, like the NAIA, where nontraditional students are allowed to compete.
[13] A special case involves the eligibility of an athlete who loses the majority of a season to injury, popularly known as a medical redshirt.
A hardship waiver may be granted to those athletes who sustain a major injury while appearing in less than 30% of competitions and have not participated after the midpoint of a season.
That year, the NCAA started enforcing new, stricter admissions requirements for incoming athletic freshmen.