Definitely not speculation. If he or you want to call it redshirting that’s fine. But he can not compete due to failing classes.
I don't know anything about his academic abilities but college isn't for everyone. If he is not cut out for it maybe he should choose a different path.
Might not even be his academic abilities, but motivations instead. Plenty of bad students are smart enough when/if they are actually motivated to try (and aren't behind on prerequisite knowledge).
try what exactly? community college? the intro classes there are probably similar to the freshman NAU classes honestly (especially if he's a communications or sports marketing major or something which I would suspect he is)
motivation definitely wouldn't increase if he went solo and performance would likely decrease
so his best option is to stay where he is, hopefully under the now even more watchful eye of Mike Smith, use the collegiate athlete tutoring center (assuming NAU has this, they basically keep the entire football and basketball teams at most D1 schools eligible), and cut down on the Busch Light frat nights
Being on that team with his brother showing the way and improving a great deal and with Mike Smith as coach is the best thing for him. As for grades, that's fixable. Abdihamid Nur didn't have the kinds of stellar hs times that Aaron had, but he too wasn't ready for NAU. He actually had to sit out for two years to get his eligibility for NAU. So, while he was taking classes to qualify, he had to train on his own, struggled with it but turned everything around, started running with the team, and the rest is history. The key is that he developed a fantastic attitude about it.
I don't know anything about his academic abilities but college isn't for everyone. If he is not cut out for it maybe he should choose a different path.
Might not even be his academic abilities, but motivations instead. Plenty of bad students are smart enough when/if they are actually motivated to try (and aren't behind on prerequisite knowledge).
Ye olde saying, A students pursue graduate school and B students go on to work for C students.