Vanderbilt football redshirt tracker: Which freshmen have played in more than four games?

Under coach Clark Lea, Vanderbilt football has taken a different approach to recruiting.

Lea tries to pull players away from more historically successful programs by offering early playing time and sending a message that if players struggle early, they will not be recruited over in the transfer portal.

This has led to a fairly straightforward approach to redshirting. Most players either play significant roles right away or play in only the last four games.

With only four games remaining for the Commodores (2-6, 0-4 SEC), most of the redshirt decisions have been made. Any player who has not yet played in a game will officially maintain a year of eligibility.

Here is a tracker of who is redshirting, who's not and the decisions still to be made:

Who isn't redshirting?

There are 29 true freshmen listed on the roster. Of those 29, there are very few players on the redshirting bubble; 27 of the 29 have either appeared in more than four games already or have appeared in zero games.

Lea has no problems putting true freshmen in right away. All of the others on this list see actual time at their positions and not just on special teams. Here are the seven players who have already pulled their redshirt, plus the number of games they have played according to Vanderbilt's official statistics.

The redshirt decisions looming

Here are the freshmen on the roster who have appeared in between one and four games:

As of the Georgia game, neither of these players had recorded a stat.

Every other true freshman on the roster has not yet appeared in a game, making their redshirt status almost certain. However, it is likely that some of these players will see time on special teams later in the season.

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Who is redshirting

Here are the 20 true freshmen who have appeared in zero games this season, meaning that they will maintain their redshirt. Some of these players likely will get in the last four games playing primarily special teams, but it's unlikely that they will see significant time at their position.

Could anyone else redshirt?

The four-game redshirt rule has made it so that occasionally players who did not redshirt as a freshman use a redshirt later in their career, usually due to injury.

Here are the non-freshmen on the roster who had not yet used a redshirt year but will end up doing so in 2023:

Both Kollie, a junior transfer from Notre Dame, and Sannieniola, a sophomore, suffered injuries that kept them out most of the preseason, and Sannieniola missed the spring as well. Because of the amount of time it takes to get back in game shape after such an injury, Lea opted to redshirt both players. Both have returned to practice and should begin playing after the open week, and unlike the freshmen who are redshirting, both could play significant roles on the team.

Other players who suffered long-term injuries, such as offensive lineman Junior Uzebu and defensive lineman Daevion Davis, could pursue a waiver if they were to desire another year of eligibility, but they would not be automatically granted one because they have already used a redshirt.

Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on Twitter @aria_gerson.

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tracking 2023 redshirt freshmen for Vanderbilt football