There are 25 freshmen on the Penn football roster. And if the last couple of years are any indication, odds are that only seven will see action in 2006.
In a school where freshmen in other sports are often immediate contributors, football players have not had the same impact.
A lack of playing time for freshmen means slower development, which would clearly hurt the teams in the long run.
Of the 85 non-freshmen listed in the football media guide, only 25 saw action their freshman year, while only one -- junior linebacker Andrew Allen - played in every game of his freshman season.
Last year, 17 freshmen played, in part due to a number of injuries suffered across the board, but only nine of those played in more than one game.
At least in the Ivy League, this phenomenon does not appear limited to the Quakers.
Only 20 of 71 non-freshmen on the 2005 Ivy League champion Brown Bears saw game action their rookie seasons.
Meanwhile, all 50 of the non-freshmen on this year's Texas roster saw action their freshman year, either as true freshmen or redshirts.
The Ivy League does not allow straight redshirting, where a player does not play for a year and retains an extra year of eligibility. But even so, 20 of the 50 Longhorns were true freshmen, still a much higher percentage of players than either Penn or Brown.
The Ivy League has allowed freshmen to play football since 1993.
Since then, just seven of the 13 players who have won the Ivy League rookie of the year award have been "skill position" players - quarterbacks, receivers or running backs.
And never has the award gone to a freshman quarterback, sophomore Jay Fiedler being the last Ivy rookie of the year award winner in 1991.
And since 2000, only one skill position player has won, running back Mike McLeod of Yale last year. In that time two kickers, a defensive back, a linebacker and an offensive lineman have been honored.
Meanwhile, the Big 12's offensive freshman of the year has been a skill player every one of the 10 years of the award's existence, including four quarterbacks.
So, why is all this important?
I tend to think that players who play more seasons together end up better.
A four-year starter is likely better than a two-year starter, especially at the skill positions.
Penn had only four skill position players play at freshman last year, amassing a combined 87 yards - 82 from running back Kelms Amoo-Achampong, who started the season no better than fifth on the depth chart.
Freshmen in other sports, however, often have the chance to earn more playing time, through practice or game action. But football teams are so large, it probably prevents too much advancement through the depth chart barring an injury.
So here's my appeal to a sport that has had really only one freshman star, Harvard's now-senior running back Clifton Dawson, in the last few years:
Let the young guys play. Freshmen can play any other sport at a high level and have played big-time college football as well.
There's no reason they can't do it in the Ivies.
Ivy League football has seen its popularity drop steadily in the last decade.
Having the same players playing for four years would give them a bigger following and bring more popularity as well as make their teams better, raising the quality of play throughout the league.
Josh Hirsch is a senior urban studies major from Roslyn, N.Y., and is former Senior Sports Editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. His e-mail address is jjhirsch@sas.upenn.edu.
