Grant Newsome redshirt burned

Thought there were several interesting personnel decisions last night. Besides Newsome, More use of Peppers on O. Speight over Morris in more than just mop up duty. Green some early at rb then no more and no Higdon or Isaac. Thomas got a lot of run at safety (over Hill I think). Lots of Ross, not much (if any) RJS. Saw Gant out there for a little. No Poggi. No Drake Harris (which we knew prior due to injury). Might be a combo of some injuries and rethinking over the byeweek.

Newsome was in on the opening series. I believe they said Cole slid over to RT. Harbaugh has said that talented players should be able to contribute as Freshmen. He did make an exception for QB and OL but that was for development purposes, not roster management.

Burning the red shirt is Harbaugh telling us to buckle up for a 2019 OL 5* commit.

Just making space.

If the coaches think he can help us win he will play. I am sure he will continue to play moving forward and I am sure they had conversations with him. Just win!

People gave Hoke way too much shit for burning red shirts. Now they do it to Harbaugh. Contra video games, in real life we don't know if players will be good enough to contribute their fifth year. They might get hurt, they might leave football, they might play a position that gets infused with younger more talented players, they might just not develop very well. If they can make a significant contribution, and playing OL in crunch time is a significant contribution, then they play.

Harbaugh has made it pretty clear he understands the benefit of red shirting players where appropriate. So if he decides to burn a guy's redshirt, I think it's safe to assume there must be a good reason for it.

You guys are really talking about 2019?

They didn't put him in on an impulse.  He's probably close to being a starter as it is, why not play him?

"It's a consideration, yes," Harbaugh said of the potential to redshirt. "You don't know how it's going to play out, you don't have a crystal ball. We're all seeing this exactly how it's taking place. He's the No. 2 quarterback but not the No. 2 guy to go into the game to take two kneel downs at the end of the game."

This was after the Oregon State game. What interesting is that it seems at that point Shae goes in if Rudock got hurt. But judging by Harbaugh's comment after last nights game, it was simply because he didnt trust Wilton to throw a pass back then.

 

Cole isn't a LT, he's a guard or center. This bodes well for next year playing Newsome now.

I'm fine with this. The OLine play has been mediocre all season. But, I would like to see him play more now that he's "all in" for the season. I'd also like to believe that the talent Harbaugh lands will surpass the talent Hoke brought in, at all positions. I could see early playing time at numerous spots next year.

I want to win now. 2018 will take care of itself when it happens.

We lost Bosch and LTT, leaving us with backups that are arguably a bigger dropoff than the coaches would like, because last night Dawson and Bars were passed over in favor of Newsome.  We have been very fortunate in that our starting OL has been injury free through eight games.  By sending Newsome out there, the coaches are looking ahead to Penn State, OSU, and the bowl game, knowing that if one of our starting OL comes limping off the field, there won't be a big dropoff in the unit's performance.  And don't forget, this OL is vastly improved but still not world beaters, as our struggles with the run game against good teams continues, despite our all-around excellent coaching (but exascerbated by running backs who miss holes time and time again).  So we must plug the best available backup in there when the time comes, whether it's an equipment failure or an injury.

Redshirts are OVERRATED in 80% of the cases.  They should only be reserved for players who have great potential but do not have the size or perhaps the experience to be ready to play...or for players coming off of injury or are currently injured.

Harbaugh uses the Redshirt as an incentive.  "Think you are good enough to play now Mr. Freshman....?  Prove it"

Id bet Harbaugh knows that as long as he keeps recruiting up and efficient, all positions should have enough talented players in the cupboard and Redshirts are nothing more than a tool or an incentive which to avoid for guys who want it now.

Burned Redshirts are a thing when you play someone with a great potential in a meaningless game, especially on ST, if there are others who could do the same. This burned RS tells me he is good enough to play as the six OL. He might be the starter next year and he might play more down the road. Our OL wasn't very good yesterday. So, not worried and hope he contributes big time in the next five games.

Your team rots from within rapidly if playing time is awarded rather than earned based upon hard work and results. Period. JH knows this and as a result, hard work and fair competition are the hallmarks of his program. If the kid earned it, he should play. It is that simple. If somebody older wants the job, they should outwork and outperform him. Finally, we need to trust JH and is staff that playing Newsome is the right call. We do not have access to the practice tape and all of the other inputs that the coaches have access to. JH deserves this respect. Hoke lost that right after the bad decisions he and his staff made stacked higher than a tower of turtles.