Give football players five years to play five seasons, Steve Sarkisian says

Now that the players using the extra year of eligibility provided by the NCAA in light of the COVID-19 pandemic have mostly filtered out of college football, the “five years to play four seasons” rule applies to the majority of FBS student-athletes. Players can also participate in up to four regular season games in a given year and not burn a season of eligibility.

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That means a freshman could play in four games during his first season on campus, then still be classified as a redshirt freshman for the following season. In addition, a junior who saw extended action during his true freshman and sophomore campaigns that suffers a season-ending injury in game two can return the following year as a junior since he did not hit the four-game threshold.

The four-game ceiling does allow for players to see in-game action and develop at a quicker rate. But there are complications involved. So what’s one solution to this issue?

Steve Sarkisian says just give players five years to play five seasons.

“I would at this point with the length of our season,” Sarkisian said Thursday if he’s in support of the five years to play five seasons rule. “With the way they set it up now, you get to play four games in the regular season and then once postseason play begins, and that postseason play includes your conference championship game, those games don’t count. You can play four in the regular season, play the entire postseason, then still have a redshirt eligible.

“To me, why not just give the whole year and let these guys play? Who knows? In week eight, you’ve got a kid who could be a backup defensive end who’s already played four games. And you’re trying to balance out should we play him or should we not because a guy got an ankle sprain and might be out a week. To me, because of the length of the season, I would just go ahead and eliminate the redshirt. Just let them have five years to play.”

A number of players who are in featured roles on the 2025 Longhorns took advantage of the four-game redshirt rule. Arch Manning and Trevor Goosby each appeared in games during the 2023 season, their true freshman campaigns. They returned in 2024 as redshirt freshmen. Christian Clark suffered a season-ending injury ahead of his true freshman campaign in 2024. He’s played in two games this year as a redshirt freshman. Similar applies for CJ Baxter, who is a redshirt sophomore in his third year in Austin.

The four-game redshirt rule has its benefits. But in the Name, Image, and Likeness era, paired with the transfer portal, it can become a leverage mechanism for players.

Since they are the most obvious examples, players who have not previously used their redshirt at schools like UCLA or Virginia Tech could elect to sit out the rest of the season to maintain as much future eligibility as possible. If they are dead-set on not playing this year, they are able to opt out of the rest of the season and enter a special portal window now open because of the head coaching changes.

But it isn’t just coach firings that could bring this about. Last year, UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka sat the rest of the season after appearing in three games due to what he claimed were unfulfilled NIL promises. Players could elect to hold out for more NIL or revenue sharing money by dangling the redshirt year over a program or an institution’s collective.

Sarkisian believes that by giving football players five years to play five seasons, a lot of these problems will not be as pressing.

“I think that will eliminate what’s about to happen around the country, because what’s about to happen around the country is players holding out, players not wanting to play to preserve their redshirt knowing they’re going to transfer at the end of the year,” Sarkisian said. “You’re going to see this come up here pretty soon, too. Hopefully not on our roster, you never know.

“But I think you’re going to see this around the country. We saw it last year with the quarterback at UNLV where guys opt out to preserve their redshirt year. I think when you do that no redshirt year, you eliminate that, and you’re just giving everybody five years. Now when they’re on a team, they go play, and when the season is done if they want to transfer they can transfer.”