I agree about not red shirting freshmen, however, in the past Kramer did indicate the reason for red shirting freshmen was to allow them to obtain 1000 reps in practice and obtain size and strength and the goal was to play them when they were juniors and seniors. That was Kramer past philosophy so you maybe right about Kramer changing the philosophy due to past depth issues and injuries issues from the previous seasons.
Redshirting freshmen may have a few advantages. Here is one. If an incoming freshmen does not red shirt than that player is forced to take a full load of classes and credits each semester to graduate on time. If they do not take the required amount of credits and classes each semester to graduate on time than they will need to attend summer school. The players scholarships are not covered during the summer session (room,board, and tuition) so the player is responsible for those fees. If they do not graduate on time than they are no longer on scholarship which means they will need to stay on campus at their own expense until they are able to graduate. If they do not graduate on time than that affects the football team APR's. Is that correct?
Personally, I think the players that do not redshirt that fall behind on credits and classes need to attend the ISU summer school session at their own expense. Take out student loans or whatever they need to do to graduate on time. I also think if you are going to redshirt some players than redshirt all of the players. If the philosophy is not to red shirt than burn all of their redshirts and leave no doubt.