Braxton Miller has three full seasons 'in the books' and has sat out a fourth season for the obvious reason.

Now, if I understand correctly, a medical redshirt only comes into play once it's formally requested, then approved. At that point, an additional year to play is granted. I haven't yet seen where that's occurred for Miller.

Also, in Miller's case, he did not have a typical redshirt season that most QBs will default to in their freshman year. As I understand it, a redshirt year isn't official until a player has been held out for the full season. As well, my understanding is that a redshirt season can occur in any one year until a player has played four seasons (see Sabino and Thomas).

So my question on that groundwork is this: given the sensitivity of Miller's recovery, and that he's being held back from throwing drills four days into spring practice, and that it may still be too risky to have him throwing full force in fall camp, is there a better risk-reward outcome to just designate last season as the regular redshirt season, hold him out again this season as his shoulder heals fully, then request a medical redshirt in January, so that Miller can play in 2016?