If you sign a player who has a "wants to play" preference, but you did not promise him any playing time and he is clearly the worst rated player on the roster, what are the odds that he accepts a redshirt?

That i recall off the top of my head, I think I am 3 for 4 in that situation. Obviously small and unreliable sample, though.

Follow up Q: Informing of redshirt in recruiting:

I did that and he hated it. Phase 1. I was the only school he was considering at Moderate (D1 recruit, I'm a D3 school).

For the next cycle I withdrew the Redshirt so now it's "informed of non-redshirt". He's still not considering me, and I'm 0% unlocked on everything.

So I move on? This kid hates me now?

I think that’s right. Informing of non-redshirt doesn’t necessarily get your effort back, and some kids will completely shut you out moving forward.

Informing of redshirt works best when the kid is not projected levels above you. For what it’s worth, I never inform of redshirt unless I don’t want the kid on the roster without a redshirt.