Somewhat OT: Redshirts vs Medical Hardship Waivers vs Sixth Years

As always, this season there has been some discussion over medical hardship waivers vs a typical redshirt. Somebody questioned the AD release saying the coaching staff would apply for a medical hardship waiver for Marshawn, asking why they wouldn't just redshirt him. There's also been some discussion over whether or not you can take a medical hardship waiver before or after taking a redshirt year. I'm no expert, but armed with Google, I just wanted to put some accurate info out there.

NCAA regulations give a player four years of playing time. These four years have to take place over a five year clock. That means a player can have one year in the five year clock not count against his eligibility. There are two ways to not have a year count against eligibility: a redshirt or a medical hardship waiver. You can use either of these methods, but not both. They do not "stack." If you've used a redshirt year, you cannot get a medical hardship waiver. If you've taken a medical hardship waiver, you've lost your opportunity to take a redshirt year. Either/or. Not both.

Rules on redshirts are really simple. You practice, you can travel, but you cannot be in for a single live snap.

Rules on medical hardship waivers are more complex, but not all that complicated. To be granted a medical hardship waiver:

• The student-athlete may not have participated in more than two contests or dates of competition or 20 percent of the team's completed contests/dates of competition. (Whichever is greater.)
• The injury or illness must occur prior to the completion of the first half of the season. (But can happen before the season begins.)
• The injury or illness does not have to occur during practice/competition, but it must be incapacitating.
• Appropriate medical documentation must exist and be provided.

Again, you can get either a redshirt or a medical hardship waiver during the five year clock, but not both.

So why would we be applying for a medical hardship waiver for Marshawn instead of a redshirt? Well, this is purely conjecture on my part, but I believe applying for a medical hardship waiver would pave the way for Marshawn to ask for a sixth year of eligibility if he should happen to lose another season to injury during his career at VT.

The NCAA grants a player a sixth year (an extra year on the five year clock, essentially) if that player loses more than one season of eligibility to injury. The "to injury" part is the critical phrase in that sentence. If we just redshirt Marshawn, there's no record of him losing time to injury. If Marshawn takes a simple redshirt and then loses another season to injury, he has no shot at a sixth year of eligibility because there's no documentation that he took his redshirt year because he was hurt. If he takes a medical hardship waiver, then it's on record with the NCAA that Marshawn lost this season due to injury. In the unfortunate event that he should then lose another season to injury, it would make it much easier for him to be granted a sixth year.

It should also be noted, the 2 games or 20% rule in the medical hardship waiver guidelines is the maximum a player can have participated in. There is no minimum. We typically think of applying for a medical hardship waiver because someone got injured in a game early in the season, but there's no requirement that says a player must have participated in a game to be eligible for a medical hardship waiver.

So, best as I can tell, that's why we're hearing talk of a medical hardship waiver for a player who won't play a snap this season. It's an overabundance of caution, just in case Marshawn should lose a second season to injury down the road. But like I said, I'm no expert. I just Googled all this stuff. If I gave any inaccurate info, please correct me in the comments and I will edit.