What do these college sports phrases mean? 1) true freshman 2) fifth year senior 3)walk on 4)red shirt. Thanks

The NCAA rules allow a player 5 years to complete his/her 4 years of eligibility.





A true freshman is someone playing during the first year of eligibility.





A fifth year senior is someone who sat out a year (see red shirt) and is completing the 4th year of eligibility during his/her 5th year in school.





A walkon is someone who was not recruted and given a scholarship. The athlete just showed up, tried out, and was good enough to stay on the team.





A red shirt is an athlete who is passing up a year of play to extend eligibility. Red shirted players are allowed to practice with the team but not take part in competition.


Originally, red shirting was allowed if an athlete was injured severly enough to end his season. The team could petition the NCAA for an extra year of eligibilty, and the player was red shirted for the remainder of the year.


The name comes from the practice of having injured football players wear a red practice jersey to protect him during practice.





Today redshirting may be done to allow a player to gain an extra year of experience before playing in ';The Big Time';. It also may be done as a personel management tool. If a coach has two equally good players competing for one position as quarterback, one may be redshirted. That way his eligability isn't used up sitting on the bench.