I don't think that the issue is painted quite like many folks are making it out to be.
Firstly, pretty much ANY young guy being put into such a situation would invariably jump at the opportunity to see early playing time as a TR FR. From what I've read ... Rogers was REALLY excited that he had a chance to see action against MSU. Thus, without a doubt, he's excited about the chance of seeing action against IU and beyond.
The first question that Ferentz has to address is whether Rogers will really be needed. If Wegher and Paki can legitimately get the job done better than Brad can ... then there's absolutely no need to burn the redshirt. Paki knows his blocking assignments, he can catch the ball out of the backfield, and he has more experience running within our scheme. Of course, as we have observed with Paki, he's gotten some decent runs in the past ... however, he also has had plenty of whiffs too. Thus, another vital question is how many reps Wegher can handle AND how effective can he be. Will we see the Wegher who ran against ISU and PSU ... or will we see the Wegher who got totally shut down against Michigan?
If Paki can't help us enough in the running game, if Wegher can't handle the increased number or reps (and it's possible that he's not yet ready ... and that has nothing to do with his toughness), and if Rogers blocks well and takes care of the ball .... then it's obviously a no-brainer that Rogers should play.
However, if we're in the murky area where Paki is contributing pretty well and/or Wegher has great success against Indiana and Northwestern .... then all of a sudden, it become much less of a no-brainer to play Rogers.
Also, folks have to the note the implications on the roster if Rogers doesn't redshirt. What sort of tension/unease would that create on the team at RB? The coaches are invested to the players and the players are invested to the team and the coaches. Thus, the coaches don't want to create an environment that alienates the players. Ideally the coaches want to create an environment that provides the players with the opportunities that they likely promised in the recruiting process. Whenever you get too big of a log-jam at a particular position ... that can sometimes cause small rifts on the team. If a well-liked guy ends up feeling wronged and ends up behaving in an immature fashion ... that can really hurt team morale. This is another reason why personnel decisions are never as easy as they superficially seem.
