New college football freshman eligibility rule is great for the sport

College football has implemented a new rule for the upcoming season regarding true freshmen and the amount of games they can play while still redshirting.

There’s something special about watching freshmen run onto the field for the first time in their careers, ready to produce. Most of the time, with the exception of special cases, the second those freshmen step onto the college football field for live action, their redshirt has been burned.

Sure, they can always redshirt as sophomores, juniors or seniors, but why halt progress and momentum unless there’s an injury?

No longer will freshmen burn their redshirt with one play of college football. In fact, they could play dozens upon dozens of snaps without burning that first-year redshirt, according to a new NCAA ruled which will be implemented in 2018.

No longer will coaches have to worry about their team’s depth at certain positions of need as true freshmen can act as hold-overs for up to four games. Yes, four games of play can be had for true freshmen before their lose their ability to redshirt that season.

What affect does this rule have on the sport? A positive one. This is nothing but beneficial for college football, coaches and fans. We can get our first taste of a freshman who has earned high praise from the coaching staff early in the season or in mop-up duty and the staff can still make the decision to store him away for next season after a couple games of experience.

Moreover, this will make college football even more competitive. By getting these freshmen an extra four games of play while still being able to redshirt, they’ll have plenty of experience as redshirt freshmen.

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Great job, NCAA. This is one of your finest rules and it’ll make the sport more enjoyable for fans, and coaches.