 | The Cavalier daily Thursday, November 16, 1967 |  |
On The Bench For A Year—
Redshirts Eye Future Roles
On the depth charts of this season,
Jim Shannon is listed as a
second string guard, number 61,
a second-year man from Petersburg.
But even though he is the
fourth guard on a team that has
a depth problem, anyone who
wants to see him on the field this
year had better get there in
time for the warm ups.
Shannon, along with several of
his classmates, has been redshirted
for this year. He will not play this
year and will begin next season
with three years of eligibility. He
goes to the practices and the meetings
along with the rest of the
team, but he works only for next
year.
The reasons for redshirts are
varied but Shannon's is perhaps
a typical case. He is young, not
quite 19, and the coaches felt
that an extra year to mature would
be beneficial. He also mans a
position that features two established
starters in Bob Buchanan
and Mike Jarvis, and he probably
would have seen only limited duty.
No player is forced to redshirt,
but Shannon thought there were
enough rewards to make it worthwhile.
Although he has no guarantee
of a scholarship in his fifth
year he feels that the extra semester
of time gained will help him academically
by enlarging both the
number of courses he may take
and the time that he has in which
to take them.
For Jim Shannon, football is an
important part of life, but, although
he loves the game, he is not
ready to let it run his life. If
he feels that returning for a fifth
year of football and school will
help him, he'll come back out
doesn't wish to come back for
football alone. For a good student
this problem is always there. It's
almost impossible to combine law
or medicine and big-time football.
Frustration is a large part of
being a redshirt. You tell yourself
that it's for the good of the team,
but if you weren't confident you
could do the job you wouldn't
play football. You go out and
practice and wait for next year
but the bruises you get there
hurt just as much and football is
still a game for Saturday afternoons.
| The Cavalier daily Thursday, November 16, 1967 | |