Grayshirt is college
football term, and is applied to the prospect that signs a letter of intent in February, but doesn't report in the fall with his teammates. He delays entry to
college until midyear, i.e. January. That NCAA five-year clock doesn't start ticking until the player enrolls as a full
time student, so gray-shirting is really a delayed version of red-shirting. For Example, Texas Tech, signed 34 players in February 2006, but NCAA rules prevent them from enrolling more than
25 to start the fall. Some of those nine other players gray-shirted during the 2006 fall season. They cannot enroll in
college as full time students, can’t receive their scholarship, nor practice. It is
like getting an extra year of practice, because most of these players don’t see the game field until two years later and they have the advantage of going through an extra spring practice.
That
kid won't be starting this year, or riding the bench. In fact, you won't
see him on the field until next year; he's grayshirted this
season.
