With the NCAA rule that now allows players to play in as many as four games and still redshirt, most of the talk involving redshirts on the Michigan Wolverines' football team this year has surrounded the freshmen.
However, it's important to note that two veterans played in fewer than five games and redshirted as well — junior linebacker Josh Ross and junior cornerback Jaylen Kelly-Powell.
Each of them have only appeared in three contests this season, meaning that even if they both play in the Jan. 1 Citrus Bowl against Alabama, they'll still each be redshirt juniors in 2020.
Ross' situation has been well-documented, with the Southfield, Mich., native starting the first three games of the year against Middle Tennessee State, Army and Wisconsin before getting hurt in the Sept. 21 loss in Madison and not having played since.
His injury status was a topic of discussion for the next several weeks, before head coach Jim Harbaugh revealed that Ross would redshirt the 2019 campaign and return as a redshirt junior in 2020.
Kelly-Powell's situation, on the other hand, is a bit unique when considering veterans seldom redshirt nowadays.
The only three games he saw action in in 2019 were against Middle Tennessee State, Rutgers and Maryland, playing cornerback in all three and special teams in the former two.
Kelly-Powell appeared to be fourth on the cornerback depth chart behind the likes of senior Lavert Hill, junior Ambry Thomas and redshirt freshman Vincent Gray, with the latter two slated to return next season.
His 2019 redshirt could very well have been by design, in hopes of potentially taking the grad transfer route and playing somewhere else next season (we're not saying this is the case, but are simply pointing out that it's a possibility).
The grad transfer path is most popular for players after their redshirt junior seasons, but we've even seen some athletes take advantage of it following their redshirt sophomore (former U-M and current Illinois quarterback Brandon Peters, for example) or junior campaigns (former Alabama and current Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts did this).
Seventeen of Michigan's 25 Freshmen Redshirted This Season
Of this year's 25 freshmen, none of their redshirts will be impacted by whether or not they play in the bowl game.
None of them are currently sitting on the four-game threshold, with eight of the 25 having already exceeded it and burnt their respective redshirts.
Cornerback D.J. Turner is the closest to the four-game barrier having made three appearances on the year, but with that being said, would still be able to play in the bowl game and hold onto his redshirt.
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