I recall that this was adopted by the NCAA about 6-7 years ago, and early in JF's tenure. It sounded a lot like the old Prop 48 stuff where a player could be on scholarship but not play. The current academic redshirt would seem to send more guys to the JUCO route, and maybe it has. Some schools may be willing to take them on, rather than have them be re-recruited from JUCO. This rule would seem to really impact their NIL value, as if they cannot play, advertisers are not going to want to pony up the $$$. I cannot remember James every taking a player who would fit this mold. It would be interesting if any top program have been taking these types of recruits and just giving up the first year of theme playing.