[BostonCard]

Well, it might be less likely from the level of information a fan has point of view, and it's certainly less likely than if Miezan were currently getting snaps and making big plays all over the place. I don't think it is necessarily less likely from a level of information a coach has point of view - though given I don't have that knowledge it becomes guess work.

At the risk of offending you as a physicist, I'm going to call this situation "Schrodinger's Coach", which means that Miezan is simultaneously a future star and a bust.

The situation you describe where the coaches are holding him back because they think it will hurt his development is plausible, but of course not all physical specimens ever develop the technique.  So, in this case, all else being equal, I would prefer the situation where the coaches felt the player was ready from a technique perspective, than the observed situation. 

Moreover, in prior years there was a potential opportunity cost (beyond hampering individual development): the potential to lose a year of eligibility (as happened to Aziz Shittu, who played 6 games as a freshman and recorded one tackle).  Now, we don't have that opportunity cost, so long as players play fewer than 5 games, so you would expect the threshold to playing to be lower.
 

Solomon Thomas is a great example of someone who redshirted as a freshman and started as a sophomore.

The decision to play Phillips and not Thomas when an emergency player was needed in 2014 remains an intriguing mystery. I would love to have a few beers with Randy Hart and get him to tell me what he was really thinking about at the time.

As it stands, I tend to think they were primarily interested in preserving an extra full year of play for Thomas - which of course backfired as he ended up only playing two.

Since neither Thomas nor Phillips exhausted their eligibility, this is a not an either/or; in retrospect, we should have played both!  I feel like the last half-dozen years have represented a transition, from where almost all players played until they exhausted their eligibility (except unique talents like Toby Gerhart and Andrew Luck), and even superior talents stayed until they graduated.  Now the threshold for players forgoing eligibility to go to the NFL is much lower, and even a CB who wound up an undrafted free agent decided to forgo his fifth year of eligibility and a safety who got drafted in the third round left as a junior.

In light of all that, the only reason not to play someone as a true freshman is if they are not going to contribute.

BC

[BostonCard]

Well, it might be less likely from the level of information a fan has point of view, and it's certainly less likely than if Miezan were currently getting snaps and making big plays all over the place. I don't think it is necessarily less likely from a level of information a coach has point of view - though given I don't have that knowledge it becomes guess work.

At the risk of offending you as a physicist, I'm going to call this situation "Schrodinger's Coach", which means that Miezan is simultaneously a future star and a bust.

The situation you describe where the coaches are holding him back because they think it will hurt his development is plausible, but of course not all physical specimens ever develop the technique.  So, in this case, all else being equal, I would prefer the situation where the coaches felt the player was ready from a technique perspective, than the observed situation. 

Moreover, in prior years there was a potential opportunity cost (beyond hampering individual development): the potential to lose a year of eligibility (as happened to Aziz Shittu, who played 6 games as a freshman and recorded one tackle).  Now, we don't have that opportunity cost, so long as players play fewer than 5 games, so you would expect the threshold to playing to be lower.
 

Solomon Thomas is a great example of someone who redshirted as a freshman and started as a sophomore.

The decision to play Phillips and not Thomas when an emergency player was needed in 2014 remains an intriguing mystery. I would love to have a few beers with Randy Hart and get him to tell me what he was really thinking about at the time.

As it stands, I tend to think they were primarily interested in preserving an extra full year of play for Thomas - which of course backfired as he ended up only playing two.

Since neither Thomas nor Phillips exhausted their eligibility, this is a not an either/or; in retrospect, we should have played both!  I feel like the last half-dozen years have represented a transition, from where almost all players played until they exhausted their eligibility (except unique talents like Toby Gerhart and Andrew Luck), and even superior talents stayed until they graduated.  Now the threshold for players forgoing eligibility to go to the NFL is much lower, and even a CB who wound up an undrafted free agent decided to forgo his fifth year of eligibility and a safety who got drafted in the third round left as a junior.

In light of all that, the only reason not to play someone as a true freshman is if they are not going to contribute.

BC