redshirt
/ˈrɛdʃəːt
/noun
1US informal A college athlete who is withdrawn from university sporting events for a year to develop their skills and extend their period of playing eligibility by a further year at this level of competition: [as modifier]: a redshirt freshman who had never started a college game and wasn’t expecting to start in one this year...
- He missed a game due to a hamstring injury as a redshirt freshman, another game as a sophomore with a sprained ankle, and two more games as a junior when he broke his arm.
- When I was a redshirt freshman, we played Georgetown in the NCAA Tournament.
- It's kind of like a redshirt year in college simply because you're not doing what the other guys are doing.
From the red shirts worn by such athletes in practices with regular team members
2 historical A supporter of Garibaldi, in particular one of the thousand who sailed with him in 1860 to conquer Sicily.
Apparently after Italian camicia rossa 'red shirt', in same sense
verb [with object] US informal
1(Of a coach) keep (a college athlete) out of university competition for a year in order to develop the athlete’s skills and extend their period of playing eligibility: he came to Ohio State as a defensive lineman and was redshirted in 2010...
- The coaching staff might consider redshirting him.
- Coach Rick Barnes initially considered redshirting Taylor but changed his mind when he saw Taylor's offensive ability and when guard Kenton Paulino was injured in preseason practice.
- And if we can't get the complete guy, we get a guy who's missing something and we try to fill in his blanks by redshirting him, or plenty of individual instruction.
1.1 [no object] (Of a college athlete) stay out of university competition for a year to develop one’s skills and extend one’s period of playing eligibility: he redshirted last season...
- Several swimmers are redshirting or changing their training to prepare for the US.
- Finally, he sat out three games his senior season thinking he'd redshirt, only to be asked to play when the starters were hurt.
- After redshirting in 1998, he used the next three seasons to learn his new position.