ATHLETIC TERMS YOU MAY COME ACROSS.

“Most people miss Opportunity because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” – Thomas Edison

There are several important terms in the athletic process, some you surely have already heard (and others you probably have not, as yet) that could be unfamiliar or confusing. Below is a non-comprehensive, quick list of some of these terms you may encounter as you begin your research or start interacting with a college coach.

SHIRTS

We put this at the top because there is so much justified confusion around it.

There are redshirts, greenshirts, grayshirts and blueshirts. Each term is used to define an incoming student-athlete’s eligibility status, as well as how an individual program views a prospect’s ability to contribute in the immediate and long term.

REDSHIRT

This is the most common. A redshirt year is a year in which a player is on scholarship and can practice, but they only compete in a limited amount of games, to extend their overall eligibility.

Many athletes redshirt their freshmen years in order to get physically ready. Other players redshirt due to injuries. For the latter, these are the rules a player must follow in order to obtain a medical redshirt:

·       The injury must be incapacitating, a season-ending injury.

·       The injury must occur prior to the start of the second half of the season.

The NCAA has also added an academic redshirt. Players will be forced to redshirt their freshmen years if they do not meet certain academic requirements from high school.

Players who redshirt are able to participate in other team functions.

GREENSHIRT

The more common term for a greenshirt is "early enrollee." A greenshirt is an athlete who graduates high school in December of their senior year and opts to enroll in college before Signing Day. Athletes who greenshirt still have five years to play four seasons, so they can still redshirt.

There are two reasons for this. The ability to enroll early places greenshirt recruits ahead of the curve, giving them time to acclimate to campus, participate in spring practice, to fully digest an offensive or defensive scheme and the opportunity to develop in a team’s strength and conditioning program. Greenshirts are also very often among the nation’s best prospects at their respective positions, eyeballed far in advance by programs as recruits capable of making an immediate impact as true freshmen.

Greenshirting has become more common in recent years, as players are looking to get college-ready quicker.

GRAYSHIRT

Grayshirts are recruits who are offered a delayed scholarship. Essentially, grayshirts will postpone their enrollment until the second semester of freshman year; they will take classes, often as part-time students, but not officially join the program until the ensuing spring semester. The athlete then has five years to play four seasons, with the ability to redshirt at some point.

They go to class for the first semester as part-time students, either at the school or at a junior college, without starting their eligibility clocks. Then they begin as full-time students on scholarship.

Grayshirts have commonly been used by programs that oversign, which means not having enough roster spots for all of their commits. Sometimes, coaches are up front about grayshirting from the beginning. However, other times, they will force grayshirts on athletes at the last minute, leaving them unable to find other schools that will allow them to play immediately.

Grayshirts can be revoked and turned into regular offers due to unforeseen roster changes. If there is a surprise transfer during the offseason, a player who planned on grayshirting could be added to the roster as a normal signee.

BLUESHIRT

Blueshirting is still relatively uncommon, but it is essentially another loophole to get around over-signing.

Unlike grayshirts, a blueshirt is able to enroll and participate in team events in the Fall. This allows programs to get the best of both worlds: Schools can delay a scholarship for the following year, allowing them to over-sign beyond the scholarship limit, and get the use of a prospect immediately rather than waiting until the following spring.

The blueshirt rule allows schools to put "unrecruited" athletes on scholarship once they arrive on campus, but count them against the next year's scholarship total, as long as they don't play. 

The NCAA defines recruiting as “any solicitation of prospective student-athletes or their parents by an institutional staff member or by a representative of the institution’s athletics interests for the purpose of securing a prospective student-athlete’s enrollment and ultimate participation in the institution’s intercollegiate athletics program.”

Coaches can contact players and have them on campus for unofficial visits (when the recruits pay their ways) without technically recruiting them.

Essentially, as long as a recruit does not take an official visit or host one of that school's coaches, he was not "recruited" by that school. This can be a little vague, so let us known if you have questions, or contact the NCAA Eligibility Center.

QUALIFIERS

The NCAA Eligibility Center looks at an athlete’s academics and test scores (if applicable) to make sure they are a worthy candidate for a D1 or D2 athletic scholarship. A prospective athlete can become ineligible or non-qualified by not registering with the NCAA Eligibility Center, or if the athlete has not been certified by the Eligibility Center. This process generally starts Junior Year for prospective athletes. 

FULL QUALIFER

Full Qualifiers are athletes that have been cleared by the NCAA Eligibility Center by passing the core classes and meeting the necessary Core GPA and SAT/ACT requirements (if applicable). Athletes can accept a scholarship, practice right away and can compete immediately with four years of eligibility. They have five years to play four seasons in their sport if they maintain their eligibility from year to year.

If you have any questions about the Core Course requirements, ask us anytime.

PARTIAL QUALIFIER

This is at the D2 level. Partial Qualifiers are athletes who do not meet all the requirements: the Core Course requirement, Core Class GPA, or SAT/ACT scores. This athlete will spend their first year in college passing the classes they need to meet to become a full qualifier or proving with their first year GPA they are a proper candidate.

These athletes can accept a scholarship, practice right away but CANNOT compete for one full year.

NON-QUALIFIER

Non-Qualifiers are athletes who have not met the NCAA requirements. Athletes CANNOT receive athletic scholarships, practice, or compete for one year. These athletes are also only granted three years of eligibility.

These athletes generally cannot "get a year back" in the traditional sense, they may be able to regain eligibility through specific circumstances like submitting a waiver to the governing body if they can demonstrate extenuating circumstances and a plan to improve academically; this would essentially allow them to compete after addressing the academic issues that initially made them ineligible. 

BOUNCE-BACKS

An athlete who leaves a D1 or D2 program to attend a JUCO, with hopes of going back to that higher D1 or D2 level, either at the same school or another, are commonly referred to as Bounce-Backs.

Athletes leave schools for a variety of reasons: Academics, off-field behavior, or even on their own to pursue other athletic opportunities after getting some / more film and a chance to compete at the JUCO level, which in many cases is quite competitive athletically.

PELL GRANTS

Federal Pell Grants usually are awarded only to undergraduate students who display exceptional financial need and have not earned a bachelor's, graduate, or professional degree. Unlike a loan, this grant does not have to be repaid, except under certain circumstances.

Start by submitting a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form. Schools use the information on the FAFSA form to determine eligibility for a Pell Grant, and if so, how much an applicant is eligible to receive. Applicants will have to fill out the FAFSA form every year they are in school in order to stay eligible for federal student aid, including Pell Grant awards.

Amounts can change yearly. The maximum Federal Pell Grant award is $7,395 for the 2024–25 award year.

VISITS

There are two types of visits to a college campus for an athlete: Official and Unofficial.

OFFICIAL VISIT

An "official NCAA visit" is a college campus visit by a prospective student-athlete where the school pays for all or part of the expenses, including travel, lodging, and meals, allowing them to fully explore the institution as a potential recruit, and can only be taken once per school by a student-athlete; essentially, it's a visit funded by the college to showcase their program to a potential athlete. 

During an official visit, the college can pay for transportation to and from the college, lodging for the visit, and meals (Division 1 allows for up to three meals per day) for an athlete and two family members, as well as reasonable entertainment expenses, including three tickets to a Division 1 home sports event or five tickets to a Division 2 home sports event.

Before a college may invite an athlete on an official visit, they will have to provide the college with a copy of your high school transcript and register for a Certification Account with the NCAA Eligibility Center. 

As of this writing, the NCAA has granted athletes the ability to take unlimited official visits, with one official visit granted to each institution (unless there is a head coaching change).

UNOFFICIAL VISIT 

An unofficial visit is any visit by an athlete and family to a college campus paid for by the athlete / family themselves. The only expense an athlete may receive from the college is three complimentary admissions to a Division I home athletics contest or five complimentary admissions to a Division II home athletics contest.

Athletes may make as many unofficial visits as they like after the first permissible date in each sport. The only time an athlete cannot talk with a coach during an unofficial visit is during a dead period.

NATIONAL LETTER OF INTENT / SIGNING

As of the Fall of 2024, this was eliminated for D1 but still is in place for D2. You will still sign a letter of athletic aid that is being awarded, though, and other schools are prohibited from contacting the athlete once the letter is signed.

The National Letter of Intent (NLI) is a binding agreement between an athlete and participating NLI NCAA colleges and universities.

WALK-ON

A walk-on is an athlete who was not offered a scholarship by a school to participate in sports, but who becomes a member of one of the school’s athletic teams.

Athletes who go through an open tryout or a training session to earn a spot on a D2 or D2 team without receiving an athletic scholarship are walk-ons.

 PREFERRED WALK-ON

The difference between a walk-on and a Preferred Walk-On: A preferred walk-on typically already has a relationship with the college coaching staff. These PWO’s are generally “guaranteed” a roster spot without receiving any athletic money.

GET A GOOD IDEA OF WHAT THE PLAN IS FOR YOU AS AN INCOMING ATHLETE.