Thank you. BTW, you're already #5 in Google if you search for "Medical Hardship Football". For posterity you'll want to spell-check a few things. Couple questions:

1) With the Saban hardships, technically a player could transfer and play football for another team, correct?

2) Can a student athlete receive multiple medical redshirt seasons?

Nice write-up.  I never understood why people worried about the Gardener situation being like Alabama.  Alabama basically kicks "bad" kids off so that they can recruit better athletes, and that is clearly against the spirit of the rule.  What UM does is what most schools do when they have some young talent, and also happens when guys are hurt in the beginning of the season and, though they probably could come back later, the coaches would rather they rehab and be 100% for a whole year.

This is a good summary, but you may want to take another look at the terms you've used. In particular, your title (Medical Redshirt vs. Medical Hardship) is confusing because the term "medical redshirt" is not the official term for what Gardner is applying for. He's actually applying for a "medical hardship waiver"--which is commonly called a "medical redshirt." So you're actually making a comparison between medical hardship waivers and medical exemptions (also known as "medical disqualifications" or "medical noncounters"--see this document).

I have some doubts about Gardner getting a medical hardship waiver that have nothing to do with any comparisons with Saban. I don't claim to be an expert on this topic, but there are a number of sources online that imply that the injury has to be season-ending in order for the athlete to receive a medical hardship waiver. Gardner was listed as the backup for the Gator Bowl and so was presumably medically cleared to play. So how can his injury be considered season-ending? Or does "season" in this case not include any postseason play?

One other note: The rule for medical hardship waivers is that you cannot have participated in more than 30 percent of the contests on the team's schedule (and the injury has to occur in the first half of the season). The 30 percent rule applies across all NCAA sports, but of course the number of contests varies. For football, you can participate in 4 games and still apply for a medical hardship. (After calculating the 30 percent, any decimal is always rounded up, according to this source.)

Your title is "Medical Redshirt vs. Medical Hardship" but your definition is for "Medical Exemption" rather than for "Medical Hardship." You might want to revise this in light of Raoul's contribution.

Thanks, JeepinBen, this is great stuff. One thing, do you think you could add in a section about the greyshirt rule? I'm a little unclear about the concept, and I feel this would be a good place for a related discussion.

Technically, the only true "Redshirt" is for athletes who do not participate for an entire season.

From the NCAA FAQ on the subject:

The term "redshirt" is used to describe a student-athlete who does not participate in competition in a sport for an entire academic year. If you do not compete in a sport the entire academic year, you have not used a season of competition. For example, if you are a qualifier, and you attend a four-year college your freshman year, and you practice but do not compete against outside competition, you would still have the next four years to play four seasons of competition.

Each student is allowed no more than four seasons of competition per sport. If you were not a qualifier, you may have fewer seasons of competition available to you. You should know that NCAA rules indicate that any competition, regardless of time, during a season counts as one of your seasons of competition in that sport. It does not matter how long you were involved in a particular competition (for example, one play in a football game, one point in a volleyball match); you will be charged with one season of competition.

The term Medical Redshirt is commonly used but in actuality is referred to by the NCAA as either a Medical Hardship Waiver or Medical Extension Waiver. These terms apply only to a student athlete's years of competition and eligibility.

What Saban makes liberal use of is actually covered in section 15.5.1.3 of the NCAA bylaws. It basically says if you become so injured that you'll never play again, a school can keep you on scholarship (i.e., provide Financial Aid) without having it count towards the 85 limit.

Here's the actual text (a 'counter' is an athlete that counts toward scholarship limits):

15.5.1.3 Counter Who Becomes Injured or Ill. A counter who becomes injured or ill to the point that he or she apparently never again will be able to participate in intercollegiate athletics shall not be considered a counter beginning with the academic year following the incapacitating injury or illness.

15.5.1.3.1 Incapacitating Injury or Illness. If an incapacitating injury or illness occurs prior to a prospective student-athlete's or a student-athlete's participation in athletically related activities and results in the student-athlete's inability to compete ever again, the student-athlete shall not be counted within the institution's maximum financial aid award limitations for the current, as well as later academic years. How- ever, if the incapacitating injury or illness occurs on or after the student-athlete's participation in countable athletically related activities in the sport, the student-athlete shall be counted in the institution’s maximum financial aid limitations for the current academic year but need not be counted in later academic years. (Adopted: 1/10/91, Revised: 3/26/04, 9/18/07)

For a primer on eligibility, I actually found these PDFs from some Big 12 compliance seminars. They cover the whole issue of redshirt/hardship/etc. They're not too long and spell things out fairly clearly. I encourage everyone to take a look. They do not cover the practice of switching a counter to being a non-counter due to injury (Saban.)

Initial Counters

Medical Hardships

Extending the 5 yr clock

It would indeed be useful to have a definitive, authoritative dissertation on the nuances of the NCAA rules regarding medical hardship waivers. Unfortunately, this diary comes up short in that regard. As has been mentioned, the terminology is incorrect, as there is no such thing as a "Medical Redshirt." The proper terms with reference to the issues at hand are "Medical Hardship Waiver" and "Medical Disqualification."

Here is a link to a free, downloadable .pdf version of the 2010-2011 NCAA Division I manual, for anyone who wants to sift through the fine print of the bylaws:

http://www.ncaapublications.com/p-4180-2010-2011-ncaa-division-i-manual....

To clarify one point of detail, the maximum number of games that a player can participate in is 30% (changed from 20% in 2007), rounded up. So for football, this is 4 games, and these must occur in the first half of the season (see rule 14.2.4).

What is not clear is the timeline for the decision. I have heard it stated that these things are not ruled upon until a player's eligibility has expired. Yet there have clearly been exceptions reported. It also appears that the application is made to the conference, not the NCAA, and the conference ruling is then submitted to the NCAA for final approval. I could not find any definitive guidelines for time frames on such rulings.

The other issue of ambiguity is the definition of "incapacitating" injury. If a player resumes practicing and suits up for games (i.e. - Gardner), does this invalidate a claim of incapacitation? Is this strictly a judgment call by the ruling authority or is the mere assertion of this claim via the submitted application accepted at face value? I don't think these questions have been fully answered and it may in fact vary by conference or on a case-by-case basis. Perhaps an actual insider could comment on these issues with definitive answers.

It absolutly amazes me how the SEC is able to openly bend, violate, and work around the rules of the NCAA. I know they generate a lot of money for the game but this is ridiculous!

I thought it was frustrating when people were saying that it was sketchy that Gardner was getting a medical red shirt. I don't think that someone has to have a 'season ending injury' to get one, but if they're going to miss a large portion of the season then I think it's ok to apply for one. It doesn't seem fair to have Gardner play in the first 3 or 4 (don't remember how many exactly), then have him sit our 5 or 6 for his injury and then play in the last few and count that as a whole season. I appreciate the work you put into this diary.

Unless the NCAA committee to decide Devan's case is comprised of Detroit Free Press writers, this should be a non-issue.

With all of the crap the SEC gets away with, I would be furious if they deny his waiver.

Am I right in understanding that this won't be decided until his senior year, or will we know sometime soon if he gets the extra year of eligibility?