The NCAA will vote in April on a rule that will change the rules for Redshirting. The proposal by the ACC is that players who play 4 or fewer games will be able to count that as a redshirt year. This will mean lots more Freshman getting their taste of action earlier.
It's a start, but I'm not sure I wouldn't prefer minutes played rather than a third of the games. I think four games is too much. I think 60-120 minutes would be a better scale.
So does TH. He talked about the proposed rule in his Bowl game presser. He pointed out that Andrew Beck, Josh Thompson and others could have played in the bowl game.
I'd rather go to 5 years eligible and no redshirts. Great players are going to leave after 3 anyway and really good ones after 4 at most. Then again we have Jefferson and Elliot leaving too early if you ask me.
I suspect it will be much easier to play that Frosh later in the season whereas currently you'd be worried about "wasting" a year of eligibility.