Well, I hope they get to "showcase their talents", too, but not at the expense of winning games. Most of the redshirts will get their initial opportunities playing on special teams. It's kind of like minimum wage jobs being meant for most people getting their first jobs...they get a chance to develop skills and prove their dependability. After that they can either move up the ladder, or move to another workplace now having created a resume' proving they can do the job, at which point they should make more per hour (i.e., get more playing time).
Sometimes this topic wearies me. :dead: Most players absolutely need the time to develop. Coach K has also made it abundantly clear from the day he arrived that he fully expects most players to be in the program for about a thousand days before they become significant contributors. Of course, there will be others who may have opportunities to prove themselves before that (i.e., Mario Jenkins, Hagen Graves), but generally speaking this is how Kramer builds winners. He's done it at EWU and Montana State, and appears to be doing it here. His system seems to be working. Of course, we could always go back to the 2-and-3 win seasons so everyone gets fair playing time, but I believe that it's more likely than not that every freshman that decides to play for Coach K at ISU gets an explanation of how Kramer does business. I seriously doubt there are very many freshmen that are promised "starting" jobs if they'll just come to ISU...maybe on a rare occasion, but not generally.
