COLUMBUS, Ohio -- At some point in Ohio State's 77-10 wipeout of Bowling Green on Saturday, linebacker Keandre Jones did something that Ohio State defensive starters Tyquan Lewis, Sam Hubbard, Chris Worley, Gareon Conley, Marshon Lattimore, Malik Hooker and Michael Hill never did as freshmen.

Jones, a four-star recruit from Maryland ranked No. 91 in the Class of 2016, played.

Consider it progress. Hope it's a new plan Ohio State actually sticks to. Because its freshman football players should never redshirt again.

(Redshirting is saving a year of eligibility by not playing. College players have five years to play four seasons. Sitting out an entire season as part of a plan can be a redshirt, the team strategically saving a player who isn't ready now to get four good years out of him after he is ready. Playing but getting hurt for the year within the first 30 percent of the schedule also can lead to medical redshirt, which maintains a year of eligibility. We are primarily talking about planned redshirts here.)

There are two exceptions to the no-redshirt rule.

One, as we just explained, is injury. If health setbacks keep a freshman off the field, of course he should take a redshirt year. It happened to Lattimore and his balky hamstrings in 2015.

The other is offensive linemen. Turning high school bodies into college bodies often takes a full year. It's the most severe diet and weight room transformation on the team. Of the 11 Ohio State offensive linemen in their second year and beyond who have been on scholarship since they were freshmen, nine redshirted. Even current veteran starters like Pat Elflein and Billy Price redshirted. On the line, it's fine.

Caveats done.

Everyone else plays.

Urban Meyer agrees.

* Watch the full redshirt discussion with Meyer in the video at the top of this page

Maybe before there was a plan to bring someone along slowly, for the player and the team. No more.

"Years ago you would do that. You'd say, 'Let's take this kid, what do you think he's going to be like in two to three years?'" Meyer said when I presented him with the no-redshirt rule Monday. "We're very rarely in that conversation now."

Meyer and the Buckeyes say they aren't in that redshirt conversation. But actually, they've been in it constantly. Everyone has redshirted. Really, practically everyone.

Last season, 21 of the 25 true freshmen redshirted. The current roster includes 61 veterans who have been on scholarship their entire careers. Of those 61, 46 have redshirted for a season, while only 15 have not.

Of the 14 former Buckeyes who just made NFL rosters from last year's team, eight took redshirt seasons, and only one of the eight, Braxton Miller, did so for purely injury reasons. Eli Apple, Darron Lee, Michael Thomas, Nick Vannett, Cardale Jones, Jalin Marshall and Tyvis Powell all redshirted, and only Vannett actually stuck around to use the fifth year he gained while sitting out and not playing.

That's why redshirting doesn't make sense at a powerhouse like Ohio State, for two distinct reasons.

1. If you redshirt a player and he's good, he's not going to stick around for five years anyway. He won't delay his NFL career that long. Look at Apple and Lee. They redshirted, started as redshirt freshmen and redshirt sophomores, then left. They didn't even stay four years.

2. If you redshirt a player and he's not good enough to leave, you probably don't need him for five years. Someone else will be ready to take his spot on the depth chart, and you may need the roster space.

"That's exactly the thought process," Meyer said as the two-prong idea was broached.

The current roster crunch, which may limit the size of the 2017 recruiting class and which we have detailed in full, was created by over-redshirting.

What's the big deal?

The numbers issue on the roster is the main problem. But the Buckeyes are also missing out on getting some seasoning, even a couple plays here or there, for players they are going to rely on. And they don't reap the benefit of the extra year on the other end.

They also haven't been living up to what they preach.

The redshirt dance with Sam Hubbard in 2014 was ridiculous. Hubbard never played that season, as Meyer talked about it weekly. He is now starting as a redshirt sophomore and almost certainly won't be around for two more years after this. He's too good.

In 2013, the Buckeyes refused to let loose and get five-star freshman linebacker Mike Mitchell on the field, even when he could have been useful. The Texas native sat the whole year and transferred without ever playing a down here.

A taste of playing time -- a third-stringer in a blowout, a chance to play special teams once or twice -- can help keep a first-year player invested. But especially when he could help the team in any way, saving him is silly. And often useless.

Meyer proudly mentioned getting Jones, linebacker Malik Harrison and defensive end Jonathon Cooper in the game Saturday. Such players probably wouldn't have played in the opener of any other Meyer season in Columbus.

"Once again, are they going to be here five years from now? Probably not," Meyer said. "And if they are, they probably got bypassed."

So the Buckeyes played at least nine, and maybe 10, of their 22 true freshmen on Saturday. For sure we saw Jones and Harrison at linebacker; Nick Bosa and Cooper at defensive end; defensive backs Jordan Fuller and Rodjay Burns; receiver Austin Mack; running back Demario McCall; and starting offensive lineman Michael Jordan.

"We're pushing it very hard," Meyer said.

Who is left who should play by our standards, anyone healthy and not an offensive lineman?

Quarterback Dwayne Haskins, receiver Binjimen Victor, running back Antonio Williams, tight ends Jake Hausmann, Luke Farrell and Kierre Hawkins; defensive lineman Malik Barrow; linebacker Tuf Borland; and defensive backs Wayne Davis and Jahsen Wint.

That's 10 more to go.

Playing them will help keep the players connected and motivated. It will help avoid future roster issues. It may help, even in small ways, the Buckeyes be a better team.

And playing them will mean the Buckeyes are doing what they are saying they want to do -- finally.

No more redshirting. Not at Ohio State. Recruit them. Play them.