According to the NCAA Manual, Ohio State senior Christian Bryant, who broke his ankle on Saturday night, would not be eligible for a medical redshirt.
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio State fans are looking for a way to see Christian Bryant on the field again for the Buckeyes, and asking if he can gain a medical redshirt for this season.
Bylaw 14.2.4 in the NCAA Manual deals with the terms of a hardship waiver for medical reasons and sets out the guidelines.
One rule is that the injury that knocks out the player for the rest of the season, as Bryant's broken left ankle suffered in the final 30 seconds against Wisconsin on Saturday night should do, takes place in the first half of the season. That was game five for the Buckeyes, so Bryant qualifies there.
He doesn't fit the other criteria, though.
A player must have played in no more than 30 percent of a season in order to be eligible for a medical redshirt. In football, bowl games don't count in the calculation, though a conference championship game does. That means the football season has 13 games, and by playing in five of them, Bryant has participated in 38 percent of the season.
There is a bit of possible wiggle room, according to bylaw 14.2.4.2.1 - Review of Denied Waiver.
A conference that denies an institution's hardship waiver may submit the waiver to the Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement. The committee shall have the authority to review and determine whether to approve the waiver based on circumstances that may warrant relief from the application of the legislated waiver criteria.
So basically, a committee can look at an individual case and decide to grant the medical redshirt even though it doesn't exactly fit the rules. It would be difficult to determine why this is an exceptional case that would warrant that type of treatment, however.
In 2007, linebacker Ross Homan redshirted after playing in the first three games of a 12-game regular season - 25 percent of the schedule. OSU basketball player David Lighty took a medical redshirt in 2008-09 after going down in game seven - 24 percent of the regular-season schedule that year.
Freshman receiver James Clark is headed toward a medical redshirt after injuring his ankle last week against Florida A&M. That was game four, but he also didn't play against Cal, so he played in just three games this year.
Last season, running back Jordan Hall was injured in the fifth game of the season of what should have been his senior year and didn't play again. However, he had missed the first two games of the season with an injury, so he only actually played in three games himself. So he was granted a medical redshirt and is back as a fifth-year senior.
According to the NCAA Manual, Bryant likely won't have that option.