Written by Stewart Mandel at FoxSports.com
In the wake of running backs Leonard Fournette and Christian McCaffrey being selected among the top eight picks of last month’s NFL Draft, it’s now inevitable that more and more high-round prospects will start skipping their last bowl game to avoid injuries. Which is completely understandable, but at the same time foreboding for some 37 non-playoff bowls already suffering from lost luster.
Back in December, one of my Mailbag readers proposed an intriguing idea to renew interest in some of the non-playoff bowl games: Allow teams to play their redshirted freshmen. I loved it, and I’ve since seen others suggest the same.
It turns out, months later, there’s already a rules change in the works that would allow that very thing — albeit for reasons far beyond players skipping bowl games.
The American Football Coaches Association is forwarding a proposal to the NCAA that would allow players to participate in up to four games of a season without burning their redshirt year. If passed, theoretically, a coach could unleash his touted four-star freshman running back in the TaxSlayer Bowl.
“I think that would be pretty intriguing to some of the fan bases,” said AFCA executive director Todd Berry, “which might legitimize some of those bowl games and make them more interesting.
Following the AFCA’s board meetings last week in Phoenix, Berry said that while McCaffrey and Fournette made headlines, players shutting it down before a lower-tier bowl game is “not a new thing.” While those particular stars dealt with legitimate health issues last season, others in the past might develop a “magic injury” right before the bowl.
To continue reading this article, click here.
