College football coaches have always had tough decisions near the end of the season when injuries seem to pile up and they want to see what they're getting in some players next season. However, they run the risk of burning those players' redshirts and that was a controversial topic in particular this year after Ole Miss was forced to do it with quarterback Shea Patterson after Chad Kelly's injury.
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However, there may be a remedy for this issue on the horizon. According to Fox Sports' Stewart Mandel, a new rule is being proposed to the NCAA by the American Football Coaches Association that, if passed, would allow players to play in up to four games during a season without burning their redshirt year.
AFCA executive director Todd Berry said in Mandel's piece that he believes it would be "pretty intriguing to some of the fan bases" and that it "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.
Even if these "magic injuries" become more rampant, as NFL teams have now shown that playing in a bowl game doesn't matter, this will allow coaches to give their redshirt candidates an opportunity to get some real game time and see how they are recovering from an injury or an idea of how they might look the next season if they aren't injured.
[h/t SB Nation]
