That is great info Yo Show, they really changed that rule. I think it is just the terminology then; one is a hardship waiver and the other is a red-shirt. DeLuca will qualify for a medical hardship, if approved by the conference, the NCAA will give him an extra year of eligibility. In other words, he is granted a maximum of 6-years to complete his 4-years of eligible participation. Or, (under the old rule) if he has not already taken a red-shirt, he will be granted a 5th-year which is what should happen in this case. A player is normally allowed to take 5-years to play 4-seasons. The year that he does not play is his "red-shirt" year. Again in this case DeLca will be granted an extra year. Many times they do not grant the medical waiver is the player is on scholarship and has already had a red-shirt year. In this case, DeLuca will surely get it because he never took a red-shirt year. Had he not played any of that first game, he would have qualified for a red-shirt year.
In football, the result is the same, but if a student-athlete competes for even a single play of a contest against another NCAA-sanctioned school, he or she will use a year of competition and not be eligible for a red-shirt year. However, if they compete and subsequently suffer a season-ending injury/illness,
they may be eligible to receive that medical hardship waiver.
Think of it this way. If we bring in kid from HS and we think his injury is minor and it occurred during his senior year, we can ask that he be granted a medical waiver for his frosh year only. Then we can still offer him a red-shirt after that.
Great conversation. Stop in here for the best football info!!!
edit: I reread what you wrote a couple times, and I think we're mostly saying the same thing. I'm leaving my post intact because my first paragraph still applies to what you wrote. The rest of the post is, IMO, a clearer way of stating the rules for those that are confused.
That rule hasn't changed at all in two years, and hasn't changed significantly in many more. There has always been a rule stating at which point a season-ending injury doesn't count against your four years of competition.
What most people overlook is that there is a major difference in how the NCAA handles injured players who redshirted for developmental reasons versus injured players who did not.
The NCAA grants five years to compete in four(Five-Year Rule). That extra year is specifically for injuries or other events outside a student's control. Players and coaches have chosen to often use that extra year for development instead of its intended purpose. The NCAA says, fine, you can do that, but don't come crying to us if you get injured later on; you had an extra year, but you chose to use it already. In those cases, a student ends up with three seasons of competition over five years.
There is a second type of waiver for student-athletes that are injured twice in a career. That waiver gives you six years to compete in four(or six years to compete in three if the player had a developmental redshirt year).
In all of these cases, you have to submit medical records to the NCAA to back up your case.
In this particular case, DeLuca played as a true freshman and never had a redshirt year. The injury occurred in the first half of the season, and he played in less than 30% of the season, or three contests. Because of that, the rules allow him to retroactively declare this season as a medical redshirt year.
A similar case concluded last year with NDSU WR Zach Vraa. He also played as a true freshman and had a season-ending injury very early in a season. He got that year waived as a medical redshirt. A couple years later, he lost a second season to an injury. Because both events were outside his control, he was granted a sixth season in order to complete his four seasons of competition. He ended up the "old man" on the 2015 Bison and was the only member of that team to experience a loss at the end of a collegiate season(vs. EWU in the 2010 quarterfinals as a true freshman).
What is happening with DeLuca is common and likely happens a dozen or more times a season at the FCS level alone. I'd guess at least a hundred or two times across all DI sports each year.
