Louisville Football Redshirt Tracker: Week Six 2024

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With the Louisville football program already four games into the 2024 season, the rubber band is starting to come into play around a key element when it comes to building and managing rosters: who has crossed the threshold for redshirt games played.

As a reminder, a player can play a maximum of four games per season while retaining his redshirt, giving him an additional year of eligibility beyond the normal four-game limit. Play more and you’ll waste your chance to earn a redshirt this season.

There are some complicating factors, such as injury waivers or older players being granted an extra year in 2020 as a result of the COVID pandemic. But beyond that, D1 players – according to the NCAA’s official website – have five calendar years to play a four-game non-redshirt competitive season.

With Louisville now in third place on the season, we have officially reached the limit of games in which certain players can redshirt. But who can still take one and how close are they to burning their red shirt? Below is our full tracker, divided into different categories:

True Freshman:

*games played in brackets

Once again, the only true freshmen to play in Louisville’s four games so far are Isaac Brown, Maurice Davis and Duke Watson.

Given the injuries on the back end, Brown and Watson will likely burn their redshirts in the upcoming games against SMU. As for Davis, he took snaps on defense against Austin Peay, but he played on special teams in the last three games. It will be interesting to see what the staff does with him now that he’s on the doorstep.

Post-HS 2020 players who have not yet redshirted:

*games played in brackets

As mentioned earlier, most of the players in this category are high contributors to the team and are expected to take advantage of their opportunity to earn a redshirt this coming weekend against SMU. However, there are a few exceptions

Maurice Turner will be sidelined for some time with an ankle/foot injury, and with no clear timetable for his return, his potential redshirt reception is fully dependent on how many games he misses.

Like Selah Brown, he has yet to see the field due to an undisclosed injury, so he appears to be a redshirt candidate.

Although Antonio Meeks did not play against Georgia Tech, he returned to the field for Notre Dame. It will likely exceed that threshold in the next few weeks.

2020 class of players entering their senior year with either a COVID year or a regular redshirt remaining:

*games played in brackets

This section is starting to gain some clarity.

McDonald, Neal, Tell and Thornton played the previous four full seasons and are in the midst of a pandemic year. Unless they get injured in training this week, they will all take advantage of their last chance to earn a red jersey.

Lacy was able to make his team debut at Louisville after missing the first three games with a broken collarbone. Unless the injury worsens or another one occurs, he is expected to make a huge contribution going forward and take advantage of his final chance to redshirt at Boston College.

Thompson is sidelined for the rest of the season after suffering a knee injury against Georgia Tech. However, he still has his normal redshirt as he played three full seasons in Cincinnati and one full season in Louisville last year. He can use this this season for a potential return in 2025.

Robinson took advantage of an extra year due to the pandemic in 2020 when he played just three games at MTSU as a true freshman. he then had a full 2021 season at MTSU, followed by a full 2022 season in Houston. Although he only played one game in his first year at Louisville last season, it counts as a full season due to NCAA eligibility rules at the time, which were changed during the bowl season to allow him to play in the Holiday Bowl. Since Robinson will be unable to play for the season due to an injury suffered in fall camp, his usual redshirt will be worn this season so that he can return in 2025.

Reiger didn’t play a game in 2020, but he used his pandemic year for this season and has since played three “full” seasons. He was in line to play his senior year this season, but with him still on the bench following complications from offseason knee surgery, he will likely use his usual redshirt this year and return in 2025 – provided he doesn’t will play more than four matches in a sports competition.

(Isaac Brown photo: Michael Clubb – South Bend Tribune/USA TODAY Network)

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