Redshirt Tracker: Five True Freshmen Make OSU Debut in Corvallis

New NCAA rules put into legislation last year allows college coaches to use players in as many as four games while still preserving a players’ redshirt status.

OSU last season used the rule in several different cases. Kanion Williams, Jason Taylor and Bryce Bray are among a handful of youngsters who saw playing time as true freshmen but played in fewer than five games, thus allowing them to preserve their extra year of eligibility and enter 2019 as redshirt freshmen.

Gundy has said he doesn’t exactly have a plan in place to use (or not to use) the redshirt rule this year and that it is more on a case-by-case basis dependent upon player progression, depth chart and other factors. But no exact plan doesn’t mean he won’t take advantage of it this year as he did last year. So to track it throughout the season, we’ve revived the redshirt tracker to see which young players will be used this season and in what capacity. Here’s the results from Game 1, where five true freshmen made their debuts. (Note: we’re only tracking true freshmen and excluding all other classifications including junior college transfers and traditional transfers.)