I doubt they made red shirting easier or more acceptable without penalty. But, I figured I'd share that (whether just good luck or not) I've successfully red shirted two Sophomores in a row without a WE drop. They are from different squads and even the guy on my Minnesota team had a huge negative reaction to me trying to red shirt him while he was a Freshman, which surprised me even more when he was okay with it this time around. Here are the links:
https://www.whatifsports.com/hd/PlayerProfile/Ratings.aspx?tid=0&pid=3274305

https://www.whatifsports.com/hd/PlayerProfile/Ratings.aspx?tid=0&pid=3267394

Edit: Also, I think it may be important to note, that both times when I issued the red shirt, the incoming Freshman had not arrived at campus yet due to recruiting still in progress. Maybe that had an increase in success since they would be more inclined to think they were lower on the totem pole.