A medical redshirt, called a “medical hardship” by the NCAA, can be granted by the governing body for a season lost completely or almost completely to injury. A medical redshirt can allow a player to gain additional eligibility beyond the standard four academic calendar years. On rare occasions, a player may be allowed to play in his or her sixth year of college if he or she suffered a serious injury which kept him or her from playing for more than one season.

http://www.techsideline.com/football/medicalredshirt.html

To receive a medical hardship waiver – in any sport – the injury must limit the student-athlete’s participation to no more than 20 percent of the team’s contests (rounded to the next whole number), with all participation occurring in the first half of the season.

Therefore, for a football player, the maximum number of games that he can play in and still receive a medical hardship waiver is three (20 percent of 11 equals 2.2, which is rounded up to 3), and none of his time on the field can occur after the fifth game (the sixth game of an eleven game season is considered in the second half of the season).

They both should be able to because B. Irby didn’t play enough this year before the injury and should get one. Shipley had a year to a year and a half where he pretty much didn’t play, The Texas coaches seem confident that he will get another year of eligibility.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3601513&campaign=rss&source=NCFHeadlines

He will medical redshirt this year – he’ll have 3 years of eligibility left starting next year.