Obviously they play the best guys, that is a no-brainer. The only time a question would come up is, suppose a Freshman is the 2d best player at a position - do you play him occasionally as a backup, or redshirt him? My guess is, if he is only a little better than the third best player, you redshirt him. Also, if you aren't talking about a lot of downs, you redshirt him. Otherwise, you go ahead and burn the redshirt and play him because, you never know, he might end up getting hurt later and needing the redshirt anyway.
We've used a true freshman already this year at guard (Mark Smith)...tells ya how thin the the o-line is.
II'm not surprised that true and redshirt freshman end up on the second and third teams.....Boykin at RB may have had more pt if not injured.
Some say Anthony Grady may have had some true freshman pt at linebacker....but that's at olb and we have a few in front of him. I had the privelege of sitting in front of his mom and their entourage from Virginia at the Wofford game....a fun bunch for sure.