The word “redshirt” has quietly disappeared from Clemson and South Carolina football roster pages, and that’s no accident.
Look at the Gamecocks and Tigers lists now, and the old labels are gone. South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers, who played in three games in 2023 while backing up Spencer Rattler, shows up as a senior on the 2026 roster. Clemson offensive tackle Easton Ware, who didn’t take a snap last season after a shoulder injury, is listed as a sophomore rather than a redshirt freshman.
That shift is part of a broader cleanup tied to the NCAA’s new “5 for 5” eligibility model, adopted in June. Under the old setup, athletes had four years of eligibility to use within a five-year window. Beginning in 2026-27, Division I athletes will have five years of eligibility in that same five-year window.
The change has already sparked dozens of lawsuits from former athletes hoping to benefit retroactively, but for players still in school, coaches have largely welcomed it. It has also forced schools to rethink how they present rosters online.
Clemson and South Carolina are now using a simpler classification system: Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior and Fifth. Those labels line up with a player’s current year of eligibility, not with academic standing.
That approach follows guidance from College Sports Communicators, the national group that works with sports information directors and others in college athletics. In a July 27 memo, the CSC said its recommendations came after “conversations with communications and creative leaders across the membership, NCAA representatives, members of the compliance community and several media partners,” and Matt Panto, the group’s president, wrote that the recommendation is for the 2026-27 season only.
The key point is straightforward: a player’s listed class now reflects how many years he has been in the sport, including the current season. A junior is in his third year, whether he’s played every snap, missed time with injury or transferred.
The labels may look like school grade levels, but they are not academic markers. They’re just roster designations.
“We recognize that no single solution perfectly addresses every student-athlete’s individual circumstance under the evolving eligibility landscape,” Panto wrote.
The NCAA’s new model also wipes out one of football’s old bookkeeping headaches. For years, coaches had to manage redshirts, first by keeping players out for a full season and later by working around the four-game rule that had been in place since 2018. That rule allowed a player to appear in up to four regular-season games and still keep a redshirt, and it was eventually expanded to conference championship and postseason games as well.
Now that’s gone. A freshman could play one game, four games, 10 games or 12 games and still be treated as a sophomore the next year, with four years of eligibility remaining.
That makes life easier for football staffs, where injuries and big rosters made redshirting a constant issue.
There’s still one wrinkle. The NCAA’s system allows for “medical extension waivers” in certain cases, including a player who misses two full seasons with injury during his five-year eligibility window.
Clemson and South Carolina have players who could fit that category, including Gamecocks receiver Jayden Gibson and Tigers receiver Cole Turner. If those waivers are granted later, schools would likely list those players as sixth-years.
And with the redshirt label gone, so is the need for the “true freshman” tag. Clemson’s Tait Reynolds and South Carolina’s J’Zavien Currence are first-year players, but under the new setup there’s no “redshirt freshman” category to contrast with them.
Everyone is a freshman in Year 1. Everyone is a sophomore in Year 2. The old distinction has simply been erased.
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