Athletes in College Football 26‘s Dynasty mode have a limited number of years they can play for your school, and you can redshirt to keep some of them around for a longer time.
Having good squad depth is necessary, as some of your roster members can get injured and miss a chunk of a season. However, you can sometimes have just too many talents wasting time on your bench. You can then redshirt some of them to save a year, so let’s get started.
When you redshirt an athlete, they will earn an additional collegiate year. This is perfect for someone who can’t join your squad outright. However, they might still be a late developer, or just someone you believe in. The additional Freshman year not only allows them extra game time, but they will also get more experience during that additional year.
- Start your Dynasty mode save.
- Use the R1 button to scroll right, and do so until you reach the Team tab.
- Scroll down to the second last option, which says Redshirts.
- This area will show you your full roster while highlighting athletes who are eligible to apply for the redshirt status. This is key: not every athlete can have the status.
- Select a valid athlete, then press the X/A to apply the redshirt status.
There are specific limitations to this status.
- Redshirt status can be applied only once in an athlete’s career.
- You can play a redshirt up to four games during their Freshman year. More appearance will automatically discard their status.
There’s a transfer portal in Dynasty mode, and one or more of your redshirted athletes could use it to transfer to another school. This could happen when you can’t match their game time expectations.
You can also apply the redshirt status in Road to Glory, but in that case, it’s not entirely dependent on you. In Road to Glory, the choice to apply redshirt on yourself will also depend on your coach and coordinators.
