When Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden sent in the 15th member of the Seminoles' 1997 freshman class during the second game of their season last Saturday against Maryland, some experienced college football observers were taken aback.
After all, conventional wisdom dictates that a large amount of redshirts are necessary to ensure the success of a top-flight football program. Since players who see action in even one game can't be redshirted, FSU's redshirt class for this year is virtually gone.
But conventional wisdom isn't always correct, as Bowden and the other coaches of the Atlantic Coast Conference pointed out during their weekly teleconference on Wednesday.
"I don't think it's a problem," Bowden said. "What's been good is we've been so darn good [in the past], we didn't have to play freshmen-they couldn't make the ballclub. That's not our case this year.
"Our case this year is we're not as strong as we have been as far as maturity and experience are concerned, so we're having to play more freshmen. That's the bad news, the good news is they're pretty doggone good."
Indeed, with a recruiting class featuring highly-touted players like Travis Minor, Jamal Reynolds and David Warren-picked by most as the top group of signees in the country- many coaches would love to have Bowden's 'problem'. Duke coach Fred Goldsmith elaborated on the factors that go into the decision to play a freshman.
"It's more of the individual need of the football team plus the case of the individual," Goldsmith said. "You might have a freshman receiver that's going to play, and he may not be as good a receiver as a freshman defensive tackle or offensive tackle who's going to be a much better player.
"But you may have depth in that position, and so sometimes you have a great player that doesn't play the first year and you have one that's not as good as he is that plays because of the necessity the team has at that position."
Georgia Tech coach George O'Leary went one step further by speaking about the difference between players at different positions. In O'Leary's mind, the so-called skill position players have a better chance to play as freshmen just based on their raw athletic ability. Linemen and linebackers, on the other hand, often need time to grow and work on their technique.
Coaches also have to consider the growing number of players leaving early for a chance at a career in the National Football League. Both Bowden and North Carolina coach Mack Brown expressed some concern about whether or not a redshirt might be wasted on a player who won't be around to take advantage of it anyway.
"If they're going to be [NFL] draft choices, we're going to go ahead and play them," Bowden said. "The only way we would not [is] if they had an injury where they absolutely would do no good to be in the ballgame."
With the conventional wisdom about the necessity of depth not quite enough to explain the decision-making processes of ACC coaches, O'Leary summed up the various factors with one simple rule.
"My redshirt philosophy right here is that if they're ready to play, play them," O'Leary said. "Because with the injury factor, kids leaving early and all that... as soon as the kid's better than the kid in front of him, you can put him on the field and get ready to play."
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